End of a Long Summer

It was a long summer. So long it seems that it was several lifetimes ago that I finished closing, packed up my things, and drove away from Mizzou. I couldn't stay still to watch it begin, peak, and fade away, so now it takes me by surprise - I got used to a world of eternal summer, I suppose, I ran away from reality for such a long time. It vanished into the Florida heat, into the turquoise waters of Iona, into the thin air on the Highway to the Sky... it was washed away by Scottish rain, sank into the sandy soil of the Badlands, was overwhelmed by the crush of tomatoes and human bodies at Tomatina.

Today when I got out of my evening class and Ida and I walked back towards Iturrama, the sky was cloudy and there was a fall breeze blowing. It was infinitely lovely and pleasant, but threatening, too, so like the air before a thunderstorm back home. You can't run forever.