A Fall Unearned

I'm still waiting for summer to arrive here (in Germany). The weather is still mild and cool, usually in the 70s or low 80s in the day, and sometimes even a little cooler at night. It seems more like a very long spring than summer. To be honest, I really like it this way. However, I grew up where the summers were very hot, usually in the 90s or 100s every day, and I now somehow feel cheated if a summer doesn't deliver at least a few weeks of hot, humid, sweaty weather.

It feels like I went on one of those shark excursions at sea where you are lowered into the water in a cage made of solid iron bars, and the only creatures that show up are dolphins. That little voice in my head would tell me, "Sure, dolphins are great, but I was really counting on sharks. What a bummer."

Also, deep down I don't feel that I have deserved the coolness of autumn if I have not suffered through an unbearable summer. Somehow, I don't feel cleansed and purified for autumn. It's sort of like knowing that you are going to a family reunion without having bathed for the past two weeks. You know that your rancid aroma is going to sully up the air everywhere you go.

So, I guess this entire entry is sort of my apology to fall, which should be showing up here in three weeks or so.

"Please, Miss Autumn, please forgive me, for I have not bathed properly."