For Everything, There Is A Season
In Kindergarten, children are taught the fundamentals in education. They learn colors, numbers, how to read. They also learn the days of the weeks, the months of the years, and the four seasons. Unfortunately, it is all a lie.
Okay, maybe not all of it. Maybe it is just a little incomplete. For example, as children, we learned about the color green. What we didn’t realize is that there is a whole bewildering array of greens we weren’t privy too in kindergarten. I’ve never taught my children, “This color is chartreuse. Can you say chartreuse?” Say it? Not really. Nor can I spell it worth a hoot, according to my spellcheck.
Of course, small children being very literal, I do see the wisdom in just saying “it’s green” no matter what shade of the particular hue it happens to be. Imagine a 6-year old’s confusion:
“Mommy, what color is that?”
“Honey, that is ‘pickle.’”
The 6-year-old pauses. “I don’t like pickles.”
There is also a shade of green called ‘parakeet.’ Now that is sure to cause chaos in a 6-year old’s mind. Is it a color, or an animal? No wonder children resort to playing in the mud and picking their noses.
Another incomplete truth we teach is about the four seasons. “Spring, summer, winter, fall, there are seasons, four in all” is the little chant we used with our small scholars.
Another saying children learn: “Liar, liar, pants on fire!”
I’m not saying those four seasons don’t exist. They certainly do, especially in the Northeast. However, what no educator has ever taught their scholars is that there are sometimes other seasons during the year.
Let’s start with August to September. This is ‘Back To School Season.’ This is when parents start thinking and planning seriously about removing their perpetual summer earplugs. It’s time to make sure the kids have appropriate clothing to be seen in public. No, those ratty old flip-flops shouldn’t be worn to school. Sorry. And no, honey, you can’t go to class in your bathing suit and towel. They will also need supplies such as pen and paper. Parents can only pray their children haven’t forgotten how to use them over the summer break.
As the students settle in and life gets into the school year routine, fall hits. However, the foliage some years is lackluster, and it becomes ‘Dreary Brown and Damp Season.’ Sure, the leaves have all fallen, but maybe it has been too wet to rake. Because of the wind in our area, even if the foliage was bright and vibrant, it doesn’t last very long. Brown branches, bare and forlorn, tend to be our décor until snow flies.
Thanksgiving comes with a short, but welcome break. The students are thankful for a long weekend with food, friends, food, family, food, football…did I mention the food? They are also thankful that Christmas break is the next thing on the radar. That plants us firmly in the middle of ‘Dragging Season.’ Everyone is craving a long break, but it seems so far away, at least to the students. An interesting phenomenon of Dragging Season is that while the kids feel the effects keenly of that period of time, the adults experience something altogether different. For adults, they are thrust into the throes of the ‘Season of Overwhelming Busyness.’
Another marked season is right after Christmas Break. Students return physically, but mentally their brains are still on holiday. I call that the ‘Soulless Season,’ something my grade book can attest to. It takes some doing to get out of that season, but with patience and perseverance, it is possible.
Then the depths of winter hit. Forget the cute pictures of mittens, cardinals, and snowmen with carrot noses. We’ve left the snow, and entered into Ice Season. These are the days that the car door won’t open because it is frozen shut. Then, once you have it open, the latch is frozen so it won’t click shut. Then you have to drive to work holding onto the door with one hand and hoping a deer doesn’t jump in front of you, causing you to need both hands on the steering wheel, then the door flies open. Not that that particular situation has ever happened to me. Ahem.
Finally, the ice melts, and then it is everyone’s favorite: Mud Season. Living out in the country, we have a lot of dirt roads, driveways, and parking lots. Mud Season happens to coincide with Spring around here. Those are the days you can’t wear heels because they sink into the ground. Those are the days the kids wear snow boots because they don’t want to get their sneakers muddy and their socks wet. But those are good days.
Soon after that is Peeper Season. There is no mistaking this season. Around here the sound is deafening. I was on a walk with my husband one evening and we couldn’t even talk because the peepers were too loud. I didn’t mind. If you can’t love the sound of peepers in the spring, then you need to move somewhere where they don’t have them.
Summer for us is just that: summer. We swim, we camp, we enjoy time off from school. My kids stubbornly call those weeks between classes “summer.” I call it ‘Brain Damage Season.’ This is when they are playing video games, watching movies, spending time with friends. I’m glad when I see them reading. It gives me hope that they may escape the worst effects of the season.
Having so many seasons makes life interesting. No matter which you may be in, whether you are pickled from swimming, or chartreuse with envy, my sage advice to you is to enjoy the season you are in right now.
