Please check your calendar. Somebody, no… EVERYBODY, please check your calendars.
Can you confirm to me that today’s date is, in fact, August 8, 2007?
And that means it is still summer, right? At least, technically?
I mean, I seem to recall that the official start of summer falls somewhere around June 21st on what’s known as the summer solstice. And then fall doesn’t officially start until September 23rd or so, the date of the autumnal equinox. And all the days in between… summer. Summer, summer, summer. At least, that’s the way it is here in the Northern Hemisphere.
More so than the dates on the calendar, I have this other evidence to present in the hopes of proving it is still summer…
It’s 100 degrees outside. It feels, when you walk out the door, like that Jaws ride at Universal Studios in Florida where you’re in the boat and there’s a big fiery explosion and the searing heat is more than a touch alarming and you check to see if your skin might be blistering before your eyes. In the end, it’s really not, it’s just hot. HOT LIKE FIRE.
Also, there’s baseball. As far as I know, the major leagues are still in action. Then again, baseball season is so damn long that it might not be an actual indicator of anything anymore. Still, I’m claiming it. Baseball equals summer.
School hasn’t started yet either. It’s still, for better or worse, summer vacation. At least for a few more weeks. And I know this counts because there’s that song with the lyrics, “School’s out for the summer!” I think Alice Cooper sang it. And I think, if it’s in a song, then it must be true.
So to recap the evidence:
a. the calendar says it’s August and August equals summer
b. It’s hot out, and HOT LIKE FIRE usually only happens in the summer (well, unless there’s an actual fire)
c. Baseball equals summer
d. Alice Cooper said so
So, if all evidence points to the fact that it’s still summer, then WHY, pray tell, is my local grocery store already pushing HALLOWEEN CANDY?
Why did I get this fall catalog in the mail today?
And most worrisome of all, why today when I bought some LEGOs for my son from Target, did the cashier put them in this large CHRISTMAS bag?
O Holy Night!
Give me some time to buy school supplies first, won’t you?
I don’t know. Maybe the cashier thought I was buying the LEGOs as a Christmas gift since I was shopping alone and when she asked, I told her that I didn’t need a gift slip for them. That must mean I’m keeping them, right? But I’m a grown woman, and grown women don’t usually play with Star Wars LEGO sets, ergo, Christmas gift!
When she handed over my bags, all of my other purchases, like disposable razors and shampoo and Burt’s Beeswax (incredible deal on a 3-pack!) and gauze for wrapping up my husband’s mangled foot, were in regular Target bags. You know, the white ones with the red Target symbol on them? She handed over the LEGOs and said “And here is your toy.” And she kind of winked and nodded at the bag which was not see through. So I think she was suggesting that the LEGOs should be a Christmas gift and that I shouldn’t hand them over to Snags to play with the moment I walk through my front door. Perhaps she thinks that giving children toys for no reason, in the middle of summer no less, is akin to spoiling them.
But I like to think I’m fostering his creativity because he got a mini-set of LEGOs and has been spending hours upon hours making things with them and entertaining himself for hours more. And I was thinking that more LEGOs would allow him to make more things and be more creative and entertain himself for even MORE hours. And more is better, right? When you are talking about five year olds playing quietly with LEGOs for hours, more is better. Just… trust me on this.
But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I’m used to seeing Christmas stuff go up early. It takes a lot of time to set up 20 trees with ornaments and lights and tinsel. I start the day after Thanksgiving at my house, and I only put up one tree, some stockings, and a wreath. So stores, with all their twinkling lights and snow globes and dancing Santa’s have to start early.
And then there’s the whole thing where they start selling bathing suits in January. Now that totally pisses me off because if I wait the 6 months it will take me to lose enough weight to look good so people won’t vomit when they see me in a bathing suit, it would be June before I could buy one. Only by then there won’t be any bathing suits left except for those on clearance, and those are all in a size 2 and I couldn’t pull one of those up past my ankles even with a weight loss.
But really, I don’t recall seeing Halloween Candy out THIS early before. I’m especially perturbed at this because it means I have two additional months where I can stock up for trick-or-treaters only to say “Oh, what the hell, just one piece” and then before you know it, I’ve not only opened the bag, I’ve eaten the entire contents, all 240 pieces. And then I have to go buy MORE. This is bad enough when I do it through the entire month of October, because after that, I’ve still got Thanksgiving and Christmas goodies I can’t keep myself away from. So come January and bathing suit sales, I’m in trouble. Only now I’ve got August and September stretching before me with Halloween candy on the shelves, and with those two extra months, I can do some serious damage. I might have to tape 20 large Target Christmas bags together just to make myself a bathing suit come January.
Running With Books 