We have reached a point in time that children and teenagers pretty much dread and adults are mostly on the fence about.

It’s a transitional time, especially here in this neck of the woods, where the weather does not grow cooler overnight when the vacation season ends.

We have reached the traditional conclusion of summer.

In a lot of places, the pools will be covered and the grills put back into backyard sheds. We will spend less time in the yard with friends and family, and more time doing homework and such, as the kids have gone back to school.

The summer has come to an end, for the most part.

As mentioned, the kids have gone back to school, and parents have recharged over the summer so they will be able to carpool and take the kids to soccer, football, dance class, cheerleading and whatever other activities one can cram within the space between school dismissal and bedtime.

Wait an hour in the pickup line at the elementary school and get one kid, give him a snack so he doesn’t complain when you both have to wait in the pickup line at the middle school to get his sister, get the above-mentioned sister and try to get her to dance class on time but realize you probably will be late because she just has to stop at Starbucks for some $16 coffee concoction because all of her friends have one, get her to dance class with 10 seconds to spare, turn back around and go home, cook dinner, eat with the spouse and not the younger child because he’s still full from his snack in the car.

Run to Target to get supplies for the classrooms of both kids, get your own Starbucks because you’re exhausted, slam it down like a college kid with a Jello shot, only to get to dance class to realize, for once, you’re early.

Your high-schooler doesn’t figure into the equation because she is getting a ride home with a friend who just got her license and her parents got her a Camaro.

It’s different here, though. We have summer weather well into October. When the rest of the country is having pumpkin spice everything and wearing sweaters, we’re still in shorts and T-shirts and trying to hang out at the Dairy Queen.

It makes for a confusing time for everyone. Take the previous paragraph and read it again. It’s OK; I’ll wait.

I’ll bet, in your mind’s eye, you had the picture of autumn. Orange leaves, pumpkins, back-to-school stuff. Just a stone’s throw from Halloween, right?

Well, no. I have lived here for eight years, and I have caught myself going to the beach well into October and, once, we went on the first of November.

You see, folks, here everything is skewed. Our warm weather lasts a long time. We basically have two seasons — Hot and Not Hot.

Not Hot is when you have things like Christmas and Valentine’s Day. The rest of the time it’s Hot.

“Hot” doesn’t mean a heatwave, but it is the time of the year when most of the rest of the country thinks it’s warm.

Hot can be 60 degrees. It also can mean 90 degrees.

Not Hot can be 20 to 60 degrees.

My wife has been wearing sandals and shorts since February.

This can cause confusion at this time of the year. Our area has a lot of Northern transplants, and they have not yet adjusted to a summer that lasts, temperature wise, for 10 months.

I have some advice for those having problems adjusting. Read that paragraph you have already read twice, again. I’ll wait for you again. It’s OK; I have the time.

You will, too when you realize that, by the social calendar, summer is gone.

By the real calendar, it is not.

Take a little time in the evening and put down the Starbucks coffee you are drinking at 8 p.m. Sit on the porch and have some lemonade, and put your feet up.

Don’t rush. Summer certainly isn’t.

Joe Weaver
Lifestyle columnist
https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/web1_Joe-Weaver-mug-1.jpgJoe Weaver
Lifestyle columnist

Baltimore native Joe Weaver is a husband, father, pawnbroker and gun collector. From his home in New Bern, he writes on the lighter side of family life. You may email him at [email protected].