I Haven't Gotten My Pumpkins Out - Yet

When I used to manage outdoor swimming pools, the last day of summer came with a list of things that had to be done and steps that needed to be taken before the pool could be closed for the off-season.  There was the obvious things like taking care of the chemicals that were stored at the facility and making sure equipment was stored and locked-up for the winter, the tedious things like making sure all of the paperwork for the summer was in order and turned in to the appropriate places, and then there was the checklist.  Oh, how I loved that little checklist!

The checklist was a series of things that needed to be done over the course of the day: "At 12:00 turn off the heaters."  "At 2:00 turn off the chemical feeds." "At 4:00 turn off the hot water heater."  The whole thing culminating with, "At 6:00 turn off the main pump."

I can still remember very clearly all the times I walked down the stairs to the basement pump room and flipped the switch on the pump to 'Off' for the very last time each summer.  It was always a bittersweet moment, filled with the tiredness that day-after-day of standing in the endless heat of a Colorado summer brought, the relief of having made it through another season of sunscreen and screaming daycare kids and the drama that was having well over a dozen teenage lifeguards, and the excitement of going back to school for another year.  It was the ultimate defining moment between summer and fall (despite the fact that we often closed in mid-August and the temperature would continue to climb well into the 90s for several more weeks.)

In the years since, the line between summer and fall has become blurred.  Before having children and when my kids were young, there wasn't anything as tangible as flipping a switch to signal the end of one season and the beginning of another . . . the days started getting shorter and the temperature started getting cooler, but summer lingered well into September, and it wasn't until the realization that Halloween costumes and candy were beginning to appear in stores that I would realize that it was fall. 

It seemed like the line might get a little clearer once my oldest started preschool and then entered kindergarten, but since the school he attended was on a year-round calendar and the new school year started in early July, that wasn't the case.  The walk to school took us past the neighborhood pool, where we could hear the kids who hadn't tracked back on yet splashing and yelling and doing their best to beat the 90+ degree heat - and while he was thrilled to be going to school, he was equally happy when his day was over and we could spend the rest of the afternoon cooling off.  As the school year got underway and we got busier with school related activities, trips to the pool feel to the wayside, and we once again unceremoniously entered fall.

Last December, the school district decided that enrollment in our elementary school was low enough to warrant going back to the more common (and cheaper) traditional calendar, with the school year starting in late August and ending for the summer in early June.  On Monday, I got to flip the imaginary switch that takes me from summer to fall, sending The Kindergartner off to become The 1st Grader.  (Can we pause for just a moment here to take that last sentence in?  I am the mother of a 1st grader!  Holy herd of cows, Batman!  Anyway . . .)

We had a wonderful summer, filled with frequent trips to the pool, a couple afternoons at the splash park, two full days at Water World, a week of zoo school, a smattering of afternoons relaxing in the air conditioning and watching movies, hours of riding bikes and scooters up and down the sidewalks, and handfuls of other outings and activities that kept us just busy enough.  And now, despite the fact that we hit a scorching 98 degrees today and the neighborhood pool is still open, it feels like fall.