August 15^thhas come and gone. It is always around now that I begin to mourn the vanishing summer. Leaves of our apple tree have begun falling onto the patio, and back-to-school ads lurk behind every flicked page of the paper. All too soon, it seems, I’ll be back in the classroom.

But two days ago something happened to help me revise my thinking. I was waiting in line at Rite Aid and the young guy in front of me was buying a six-pack. “Summer school just ended,” he said to the clerk jubilantly. “Let the summer begin!”

Since then I’ve been holding onto his words. Labor Day is still two weeks away and I don’t start teaching for another five weeks. There is still plenty of time to bask in the heat and daydream. So, if you haven’t yet been feeling appropriately summery—and even if you have—Let the summer begin!