OCTOBER 14th: It's Getting Dark Earlier

IMG00138.jpg, originally uploaded by Kikigill.

Six-thirty and the sun is going down. The autumnal equinox nearly a month behind us and the days are getting shorter and the nights are stretching into the days, licking them away early and making me sleepy. At 6:30 in the summer I remember still swimming, trying to drag the kids out of the lake. At 6:30 in the fall, I am huddled in a down coat in the car, chilly, waiting for the kids to come in off the playground so we can go home. I feel ready for the half-hibernation I will embark on once we fall back, but scared for the slowing of my exercise routine and quieting of my social life. I withdraw. It happens every year. I should be used to it by now.