For many people (especially children) there is an uneasy feeling when the calendar page is turned from August to September. The primary reason for this is that “no more pencils, no more books” time is winding down. Children and teenagers have to shake the dust (and sometimes sand) off their thinking caps and have to face the realization that the long sunny days of free time are over, and they know that means “early to bed and early to rise” time, followed by studying, homework, and test taking.

Saturday was September 1 and I was on the next to last day of vacation with my wife and daughter on the East End of Long Island. That morning as they slept, I slipped out the door to get coffee, breakfast, and the newspaper. What was very surprising was the brisk wind, the clear blue sky after a night of rain, and the overall feeling in the air that summer was really over. We all know that in reality summer doesn’t end until later in September, but that first day of the month and, more importantly, Labor Day, basically signal the end of summer as people close up cottages and bungalows, stop wearing white, and prepare for the long, dark days of winter.

We returned home late today and, since the cupboard was bare, I ran into the local drugstore for some milk, juice, and other supplies to hold us over until tomorrow. Imagine my surprise to be greeted, not by Back to School signs, but by Halloween decorations hanging all over the place. This kind of intertwining of seasons is particularly confusing since I was just swimming and sunning on the beach, and I don’t associate those activities with Halloween since it’s usually rather chilly around here by then. Yes, I knew summer was ostensibly over, but I guess I didn’t realize just by how much (at least in the retail world).

I started thinking about the importance of Labor Day, not just as a day to honor workers (which I think is quite an admirable thing in and of itself), but more as a benchmark in the calendar year that reminds us of something tangibly important in life: reality. While we all love the freedom of summer days and the carefree lifestyle associated with it, we know it cannot last forever (unless we are some self-appointed “dudes” living the all-year-round dream in Hawaii or the Seychelles or someplace else like that).