This morning my husband and I had the following conversation:
Him: (cooking something in a crockpot) “I think I’ll add some turnip to this.”
Me: “Nooooooooooooooo! Step away from the crockpot.”
Now, I’m sure you are assuming I dislike turnip. You might even be wondering why I don’t want my husband to use the slow cooker. The fact is, I don’t mind turnip. And, honestly, why wouldn’t I get behind my husband cooking dinner?! I am all for that. He’s a great cook!
My issues are more personal and a tad “princessy,” I’ll admit it. My problem here is: Turnip is a fall vegetable, not a summer one. Plus, the slowcooker is a fall/winter appliance, not commonly used in the summer. It’s summertime, dammit! So let’s be 100% summery, okay?!
As you can guess, I’m really NOT ready to let go of the amazing summer we’ve had. I’m never ready to let go of the summer.
With beautiful, warm days, camping and cottage weekends, visits with family, nights out with friends, Georgian Bay Gin Smashes (yum!), fun days with the kids at the beach, long flowing dresses with lots of room for dessert, cute sandals, painted toenails, strawberries and whip cream, chilled red wine, and so much guacamole we may actually have a slight green tinge to our sun-kissed skin; I’m just not ready to let go.
But I know I have to. Hanging on to summer is not an option. We live in Canada, after all. And here we get to experience all four seasons; though it often feels like just two. Doesn’t it? And why does it feel like the winter months drag on while the summer flies by? Spring is always amazing because it means summer is on its way. But this sort of thinking aligns the seasons with my emotions. And this is not productive for me or my emotional state.
My family and I spent ten years living in Northern England. There it rains an average of 140 days per year. While there, I wasn’t particularly impacted by the rainy days. The skies were gloomy a fair amount of the time. It was very rarely cold and equally rarely hot. I just got on with everyday life, without any emotional connection to the weather. Barbeques happened a handful of times per summer. Summer wasn’t really sunny or hot, it just offered warmer temperatures and lots of rain. My emotions were not connected to the weather at all. I think that’s because the days were sort of always the same. Lifestyles weren’t altered quite as dramatically as they are here, in Canada.
But the truth is, allowing myself to dread the changing of seasons isn’t cool. Not cool, at all. I need to do more to embrace the fall and winter months. I know some people come to life when the snow starts to fall. I am not one of those people but maybe I can try… After all, I don’t want to pass on my anti-winter attitude to my kids, and though they don’t currently hear me complain, they see my furrowed, miserable face when we walk out the front door into the freezing air.
This year, I plan to go skiing and skating regularly with the family, in a bid to get us all more into the positives of the colder season. I hope it works!
I will also be saying, yes to turnip and to yummy slowcooker meals, to hot chocolate and poutine, to warm blankets and cuddles by the fire. But until then, can’t we just stick to chicken kebabs and burgers, pasta salads, and watermelon? It’s still summer, dammit!
