“La
rentrée—a time of magical new beginnings in Paris that’s like “back to
school” in the states, only bigger and more profound. More than just kids
getting new pencil boxes and corduroys after a summer of catching fireflies and
building campfires, it’s the season
of renewal. Change is embraced and celebrated by every proud citizen; it’s a
feted homecoming for the entire city that is returning to work after spending
August frolicking à la plage—unless,
of course, they were like me and the Louis Vuitton team, who toiled not only
the entire sacred heat-filled month, but every weekend of it, too.”
—from Paris, My Sweet
Change is in the air in New York City. After
three months of glorious summer weather—four if you include May, which was
actually pretty spectacular, too—Labor Day weekend rolled around with overcast
skies and cool weather. Aside from buzzing and bumbling NYU students, the
city’s energy has been as deflated as a balloon three days after the party.
Personally I’ve been
listless. Not blue, but not inspired either. C’est la vie, I thought. Until I searched
through the past three years of this blog and realized I just don’t do so well
with this “magical” time of the year. In 2009, I was in a classic meh mood. In
2010, I took an objective point of view. Last year—even while I was in Paris
(oh, how I miss it)—I felt an inexplicable weight.
Maybe I’m grieving
for summer. Maybe I feel the impending doom of eight months of progressively
crummier weather. Maybe it’s an internal thing. I don’t know. I do know it’s
time to shake the cobwebs and embrace this season of change, believing it will
all be good change.
Et toi? How are you
faring with la rentrée?
J'adore le rentree!
ReplyDeletePerhaps you need to indulge in some of the trappings of the time: cable knee socks, shiny new penny loafers and, of course, a sweet new book bag. Myself, I am really looking forward to my bus commute in some Seattle rain so I can bust out my new silver North Face trench. Hooray, fall!
ReplyDeleteAmy, don't grieve yet. You have 18 more days of summer. Yes, the kids are back at school, but summer is still here for us to enjoy. Start grieving on Sept.22nd when summer ends and I will join you. I was at the pool yesterday , it was 90 degrees here, ate a cold shrimp and lobster salad with homemade mayo. So, let's celebrate summer until the very end.
ReplyDeleteI thought that this stuffed cotton deadweight hanging off my neck was the result of returning from a week in Boise (Boise is where all the cool people go on vacation, didn't you know?) but perhaps the dull throb which has settled between my eyes is more a seasonal malaise? I'm from San Francisco where we don't have seasons, perhaps I'm just sensitive. Whatever the cause I too find myself suffering from a disinclination to thrive. I hope that neither of our cases are chronic or critical.
ReplyDeleteI almost hate to say it, but I love this time of year. I think it's the product of lonely summers as a kid. I love the energy, the new projects, the idea of a new (school) year. Also, it's all leading up to my true favorite season: winter! Before you stone me, let me tell you this -- I start having unsettled, moody feelings in the spring, as summer approaches. Weird, right? We must be seasonal opposites!
ReplyDeleteWe all have our seasons, don't we? Mine is March and April - I just can't ever seem to shake the blahs of winter easily. Hope you find some good sweets go get you through this transition.
ReplyDeletePersonally, autumn can't come soon enough for me. It's been record-breakingly hot and humid and awful all summer long. And dry. And hot. I had cabin fever from having to stay inside in the air conditioning.
Sweaters and jeans, here I come.
When fall comes, I am energised, from the last hot and listless days of summer, that cool crisp autumn air wakes me up again.
ReplyDeleteI never dislike Autumn and usually have a lot of excitement about the coming winter/holidays to come. But January is the month that gets me. Wherever I am it is too cold or too hot. It is the time of year where I find myself waiting .. for cooler/warmer weather, a trip, a visitor, something :)
I knew we were kindred spirits .) I feel the same, a sense of foreboding that sets off the same kind of melancholy you're experiencing. I can only hope it passes soon!
ReplyDeleteIt's just the start of spring for us and I cannot wait for summer.
ReplyDeleteI too have a deep case of early Fall Mehs
ReplyDeleteVery unexpected
i just get the melancholy thing at this time, no hint at all of new beginnings in the air, just more nostalgia, time passing, very existential as befitting perhaps in Paris, funnily enough I was in the Cafe de Flore last week, why I would find myself there with the premium prices, just cos Sartre invented melancholia on these very tables !!! I think you embrace these feelings but the priority must remain the future, or the present ... whatever will be, will be as the song goes
ReplyDeleteIf you come to a fork in the road, take it.
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