RUSH

Labor Day weekend marks the official end of summer. It’s the last weekend away, last BBQ, last trip to the beach for a while. We put our white linen trousers in the back of the closet with the sadness of the last day of summer vacation.

September rushes in. The air starts to have a different smell. It’s back to work and back to school, college life begins, while Rush Week ensues.

Fashions Night Out marks the beginning of Fashion week, so we can get a look at the white trousers we’ll be buying next year. The cooler air enables us to think again as the romantic haze of summer is lifted. We are ready to tackle situations as we watch the defending Super Bowl Champions, the New York Giants do the same.

Just as the blisters form Fashion Week’s stilettos have heeled, the High Holidays begin, triggering for many the first rush home to be with family with the preparation and stress that accompanies it. Those of us who celebrate, try to balance the Third Quarter demands of the secular world while also jumping on trains to cook, clean, pray and figure out who is sitting where at the table, much like hosting a UN summit. All of this is so our souls are in shape for the year. We escape for a moment to look at leaves of fire further north as if to gasp for air before Halloween parades into the night, ablaze in sequins and feathers in October. November ushers in Thanksgiving, followed by Black Friday and Cyber Monday. December storms in with bustling crowds, lights and glorious shop windows for Christmas and Chanukah, coming to a head on New Year’s Eve. The hangovers are but a fleeting testament to the madness of the fall/winter marathon.

It’s a lot. I’m exhausted just thinking about another year in the spin cycle. The crisp air seams to make us brisk in movement and manner. Sometimes, the icicles put a blanket of frost over our hearts, numbing us from pain that would otherwise be unbearable.

This year I propose we stop to take a breath. That we try enjoying each moment of our lives, work and the festivities as they are happening without celebrating the year’s end before it’s over. We could try to live each day in the present. For the future, as much as it irks my control freak self, is out of our control.

Let’s take everything in and on by breathing steady amidst the RUSH.