Cold Remedies

If you want to be technical, summer doesn't officially end until tomorrow. However, if you have been in New England for the last couple of days you know that there has definitely been a Fall-like feel to the air. While the middle of the day still get pretty warm it doesn't get nearly as hot as it was just a week ago and once the sun goes down the temperatures take a really dramatic dip. Any way you want to look at it, the number of warm days remaining is rapidly dwindling. What has been interesting to me is the number of different ways people have chosen to attack this problem, all of which appear to be some form of denial. Mostly, they consists of people refusing to dress as if it is colder out. It is as if they think by dressing for warm weather they will somehow trick Mother Nature. Despite the drop in temperatures people are sticking with shorts, but fighting the cold by wearing sweatshirts. (If you have lived in this area long enough you know New Englanders are reluctant to make the switch back to pants full-time, because once they make that transitions that will be it for shorts until April. We're all about extremes here.) Personally, this is how I do it as well. I happen to think shorts and sweatshirts is a pretty good look. Given what I have other people are doing as alternatives I haven't seen anything to make me think otherwise.

The first odd choice I saw was a guy still rocking the shorts and short-sleeve shirt, but wearing a wool cap on the top of his head. Now, at first I wasn't positive this was how this guy was trying to hold on to summer, because you often see a certain type of person of person trying to pull off this look - namely idiots. I don't know how, but wearing a wool cap no matter what the weather outside became stylish at some point. I'm sure Johnny Depp was on the cover of some magazine during the height of his "Pirates of the Caribbean" popularity wearing a wool cap on a scorching LA day and suddenly it was thought to be trendy. A large chunk of metrosexuals then forgot they were not Captain Jack Sparrow and tried to pull it off themselves, failing miserably in the process. This man did give off the a vibe which made me believe he was the kind of person who would wear something just because he thought it made him look cooler to young girls. Rest assured that it did not. That is why I'd prefer to think he wasn't oblivious to how silly he looked, but was sacrificing style in the name of practicality, knowing heat can escape from the top of your head.

Still, that guy look like a MENSA candidate when compared to the next people I saw. They were driving down the street in a Jeep Wrangler with the top and sides removed and behind the windshield were two of the coldest-looking people I have ever seen. Not only were they wearing long pants, jackets and sweatshirts, but the sweatshirt hoods had been pulled up and the drawstrings pulled tight. Only about 4 inches of these people's faces were visible as they drove down the road. Never mind the safety issue of the driving having his peripheral vision taken away, I could only think these people were extremely lazy. I don't know how hard it is to put the top and sides back on a Wrangler, but I can't imagine it would take so long that this was the only alternative. Either they really want summer to last a few more days or, like a lot of Wrangler owners, they feel like they need to be tough to justify driving it. [Sidebar: Seriously, someone needs to explain that to me. I've known lots of people who have owned Wranglers and they all act like their cars somehow reflect their personalities. They honestly believe buying a Jeep makes them more of a legit outdoorsman than the rest of society. Believe me when I tell you it doesn't. You can buy a car with sides and doors that don't come off and no one will stop you from hiking this weekend. [Sidebar within a Sidebar: Since we're bursting bubbles, no one at your job wants to hear about your hiking trip, either. We're not impressed. Just eat your lunch of trail mix in silence.]] No one will think less of you if you cave and pick warmth. The same goes for anyone who feels like they still have to ride their motorcycle but must do so wearing a winter coat.

Now, even though I am poking fun at them, I do appreciate their efforts to hang on to summer just a bit longer. As awesome as I think Fall it, I have to admit that I wouldn't mind another couple weeks of warmish weather and the sun staying in the sky passed 6 o'clock. Sadly, no amount of bargaining or denial is going to change the fact that we will be breaking out the shovels before you know it. I'm just happy we are making the transition at a more normal pace this year, because last year it felt as if we totally skipped fall and went directly into a mild winter. This year we have a chance to bid farewell at our own pace. I know it isn't fun, but if you don't like the change in seasons you can always move to California and get to deal with mudslides and earthquakes. (Suddenly not being able to wear flip-flops to the store doesn't sounds so bad, does it?) And as much as it stinks, part of that goodbye has to be putting the warm clothes away and breaking out the cool weather gear. Actually, I think the absolute first step is putting the doors and roof back on your vehicle, but after that you should probably start looking for warmer clothes.