the end of summer. no more whites

Just a year ago I recall standing over Lake Tahoe and positing that Labor Day, not New Year's, should be the time when we make resolutions and revelations. I think it may have been the company. Labor Day is much more significant as a 'time' than the wholly arbitrary idea of the first month...the first day of the first month. In fact, nothing changes on New Year's Day, nothing but the dayplanner you rarely use. Yes, that one....Audubon Society, New Yorker, the gift from Auntie May. New Year's could fall on a Monday, it could be a Thursday, there's no rhyme or reason, it's a floater. Does anyone ever roll out of bed on a Thursday morning and say, "right, got to quit smoking, and Thursday IS a perfect starting point"? Mondays are the more logical dock of departure on journeys of hope. (Don't even start with Mondays being arbitrary...don't!) So, as you put away your summer white shoes and matching pants; you drink the last of the Chardonnay because white is so not post-Labor Day; the kids (and olden people) are back in school; the dog days of summer are over and the coming Autumn signifies the work ahead for the harvest...make those promises. We're already changing clothes, the weather's turning, the summer wines are gone, back to work we go, getting on with life. A PERFECT time to start on some new reclamation project in your life. New paint around the house? Back to the gym? More time with the kids? Labor Day, a perfect beginning. New Year's? What? Do you get up that morning and change anything? Nope. Nothing. It's still cold, dark and a little bit depressing. In fact, you're probably not working over the Holidays and the idea of combining getting back to work (argh!) and some crazy, vice-halting, life altering new habit is beyond comprehension. Who came up with this tomfoolery? I can't give you Dick Clark in Times Square to signal a new beginning, but I can give you a Monday to get started. So little stress over the Labor Day weekend. It always seems like such a point of change...the last of the Summer Festivals, the putting away of shorts, sandals, and shirt sleeves...the beginning of a new time. Spread the word, watch the leaves start to change, and get off to the gym. (Cue Auld Lyne Syn....trust me, it'll work.) Love to all