As I look outside and watch another layer of snow cover the twenty inches of snow that is already on the ground, I yearn for summer.  I miss taking walks and riding my bicycle down to the beach.  Each year, I watch as the seasons change in the harbor.  In the winter, the boats are docked on land and wrapped in plastic.  In the spring, the boats slowly make their move, one by one, back into the bay and river.  The town is still quiet with only the locals here as the sidewalk traffic increases in front of the quaint shops and cozy restaurants.  The summer is a time of bustling crowds as people come from the city to take the ferry to Fire Island.  My children come home from college and fill my house again.  The days are long and warm and the beach is everyone’s favorite destination.  But it isn’t long before I yearn for the cooler, quieter days of autumn.  Autumn is my favorite time of year as the east end comes to life with pumpkin fields and corn mazes and the trees blaze into beautiful vibrant colors.  We take drives upstate to the mountains and walk on trails through the woods.  Autumn is the time for craft fairs and antiquing.   Everyone is preparing for the holidays, the return of families, and the first snow.

I like the change of the seasons, they remind me that nothing lasts forever and that I should enjoy each season for what it is. And yet, I find it is also normal to want whatever it is that you don’t have.  In the summer, I want snow.  In the winter, I want the sun.  But as each day evolves into the next, time and the seasons are slowly changing.  Today the sun rose a minute or so before it did yesterday and it will set a minute or so after it did last evening.  Hopefully, the groundhog will not see his shadow on Monday and this winter will be over in four more weeks.  As I hide in the warmth of my home and type away on my computer, it is nice to think that the sun and the beach are waiting for me, just a few months from away.

http://www.theresadodaro.com   Author of The Tin Box Trilogy