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Jim Fabiano is a retired teacher and a writer living in York.
It’s a remarkably quiet time of year. It happens every September. It has been said the traditional end of summer has moved from the beginning of September to mid-October but the essence of change in atmosphere and attitude still follows the Labor Day holiday. The hustle and bustle of summer vacations has come to an end. Yet normality is not the only idea that comes back to us this time of year. Serenity creeps its way into all who dare to meet the morning sun.
Waking up in the morning is different this time of year. The air has lost its heaviness due to humidity only to be replaced by a dry type of coolness that makes one want to jump out of bed to start the day. The sun seems brighter.
If one is fortunate enough to be able to walk down the beach it is obvious how things have changed from the hustle and bustle of summer tourists to a time when those of us fortunate enough to live near the sea retake the serenity of where the ocean meets the shore. Clearly the songs of the gulls overhead now replace the screams of playing children. The acrid smell of aloed bodies is replaced by the pure smell of salt water mixing with salted air. Even the waves of the ocean seem to be pounding their way to the beach in a more consistent and serene fashion.
The people of the morning are also different. Not that the same people aren’t seen on the summer’s beaches enjoying the warmth and excitement of our shores but the bicyclists and joggers are not hurrying down the beach to be the first to arrive at his or her destination. They are now seen sitting by the beach enjoying the eternity of the ocean. You can almost see through their eyes and feel they are not even thinking of the fun they lost during the summer season but are now experiencing their own peaceful emotions mixing with the tranquil emotions of this time of year.
The colors of the early morning September beach have forever been written about or are pictured in pastels, watercolors, oils or photographs. On the beaches you can’t only see the green of the ocean with its frosty white caps, you can also feel and smell how perfectly combined the colors are. How the browns of the sands go with the deep blues and grays of the sky. The morning sky always takes a different form because its colors complement the seas so flawlessly one seems to be a continuation of the other.
The clouds of the clear morning sky appear to form holes at the end of massive blue tunnels sneaking a peak at a hopeful heaven in the sky. On this particular morning a small lobster boat broke this consistency by daring to float between the sea and the sky.
The quiet is the most intense feeling this time of year. Even the sound of my footsteps, as I walk down the beach, seems to naturally belong to the serenity of the ocean. The quiet is almost deafening in that it overwhelms all other sounds that dare to break the serenity of our September beach.
The beaches are not the only place that exemplifies the serenity of this time of year. The stores are not quite as busy as they were only a few weeks ago. We are now able to find and talk to our neighbors instead of rushing to what we need and hope the checkout line will not steal too much of our time away.
Working outside during this time of year our families do not have the intensity of what it had during the summer months. There is not a place one has to go or a place one has to be because the concern that our summer season is so short now has little importance. We also change our attire and attitude about our bodies this time of year. Gone are the concerns about a little too much flesh here and a bit too much weight there.
It is a remarkably quiet time of year. The only problem is the time of fresh air and September colors are soon to be replaced by another not so favorite time of year. But, I assume this is exactly why we all live in our beautiful places near the sea.