Indian Summer

As a full-time editor, I bow down to (read, am obsessed with) the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary. It's the one I turn to first with all my questions -- hyphen or no? One word or two? Usage? Let's check. The fact that the new B&N Nook has MWC as its programmed dictionary of choice is really one of the more convincing checks in its favor (and probably the final deciding buying factor) over Kindle. Yes, this is how much I respect this reference book.

And so, as I typed in the title for this post, I then checked the MWC entry for Indian Summer (habit? curiosity? chance? inspiration? call it what you will). Indian Summer: a period of warm or mild weather in late autumn or early winter. Of course, we knew this. What I didn't know (or had forgotten) was this -- also defined as a happy or flourishing period occurring toward the end of something. Interesting.

Thursday, Griffin and I celebrated what I'm calling this area's brief (but oh so lovely) Indian Summer. We put on our jackets, turned our faces to the sun, and took what was probably this year's final walk around the neighborhood.

It was such a glorious evening. I was a bit sad that my husband was not with us -- although he had just spent the last two days in Bermuda (swimming pools, movie stars) -- but I know he would have gladly given that up to take this final walk with us. And for some reason, I chose to take the camera -- not being the world's best photographer, and being solo trying to get Grif to sit still, look at me AND smile would have been less of a challenge if Jim had been along. But it was fun. We laughed, we looked at the leaves, we gawked at cars (mostly Grif did this), we listened to the sound of lawn mowers and summer's end.

Everything with him is so bittersweet. He makes my heart ache, and that day was no exception. He's so gorgeous, that child. So happy. It amazes me that he can inspire such overwhelming joy in my heart while bringing instant tears to my eyes with the sorrow that I miss so may of his days. I just want to scoop him up and cuddle with him forever -- he looks at you with those huge blue eyes...and then he smiles...and words don't describe how that fills my heart so full.

So, Indian Summer. The true end of summer. The nearing of the end of fall. Winter is coming...and yet this time for me is full, so full of the new things that the boy can do every day -- his new discoveries, his new sounds, I see so much through his eyes (and in his eyes).

A happy or flourishing period occurring toward the end of something...I'm nearing the end of my first year of working full-time with a child (and hopefully nearing the end of this as well -- my official plea to the Universe to help me be able to soon work part-time instead). We've passed the end of his first year of life...nearing the end of this first new year full of the crazy days and long nights of a life changed (so completely, so wholly) by this boy. Nearing the end of what I would probably officially call his "babyhood." Nearing the end of so many "firsts." Nearing the end with (hopefully) grace, a little more patience, a few tears (of course) and complete wonder for what comes next. Happy? Decidedly. Flourishing? Every day. But oh so bittersweet. And as a mother (and a lover of words), I think bittersweet does just as well in defining Indian Summer. A wee bit bitter (endings always are) but so very, very sweet.