Somehow my calendar has vacancies in it – not because I have nothing to do, but because the big events are yet to come. Even the weather is baffling, not that I usually write about it. As I write today, autumn is here, but we are enjoying summer temperatures. We’ve had Midnight Madness, but basketball season isn’t here yet, and we are only halfway into football season. The election is not yet decided, yet we are all weary of political news!
I call this period waiting. That’s part of what we are doing, but we are not good at it. It isn’t Halloween yet, but Christmas items fill the stores and the advertisements. What became of Thanksgiving? What’s our hurry? Catalogs fill my mailbox and the same catalogs came last month. I buy very little on line, but the catalogs persist and new ones from which I have never ordered accompany them. It’s good for the post office, but it fills up the landfills
The merchants can’t wait for their busiest season to begin: I can wait. That is probably a function of my awareness of age and the apparent speed at which the weeks go by. I know time is a constant, but I find myself saying, “Can it be Thursday already?” I don’t want the week to go by so quickly. On the other hand, I can’t wait for the election to be over, as though the month of November will bring the end of political rhetoric.
When considering my subject matter, I depend frequently on controversy published by readers in our local daily paper – I either take sides or at least educate myself on what may be coming up to argue about. Because most of the letters are about the election (and I am trying to avoid that until next month), I am stymied about arguable topics! Everything is political – Frankfort, money for public schools, new coaches, candidates, the governor vs. the attorney general, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera!
What is left? Murders, which we are enduring with great frequency … gun violence … new restaurants opening, old restaurants closing … hope rising, as it always does – thanks be!
What else is left? Waiting for cold weather, which will please the merchants who want to move their supply of coats … waiting for the end of “he said, she said” politics, and friends can be friends once more … waiting for Thanksgiving turkeys and Christmas shopping and life to get back to normal – whatever that is!