The Last Pages of Summer

The Last Pages of Summer

There is something about August that always makes me slow down.

Maybe it’s the way the evenings begin to arrive just a little earlier. Or the way the lake seems quieter somehow, as if it knows summer is beginning to turn the page.

I’m not quite ready for that page to turn.

This has been a beautiful summer at the cottage.

There have been mornings with coffee and the lake outside on the deck overlooking the lake, afternoons spent writing, books waiting beside my chair, walks with the dog, and those wonderfully ordinary days that somehow become the ones you remember most.

I came to the lake this summer hoping to write.

And I did.

But I also found myself writing in ways I didn’t expect.

I’ve been working on my website and, in the process, going back through years of my old American Girl in Holland blog. Story after story. Memory after memory. Some of those posts haven’t been looked at in years. And some brought tears to my eyes.

It has been a little like opening an old trunk in the attic.

There are things inside I remember perfectly. Others surprise me. And some make me stop and think about the woman who wrote them and how much life has happened since then.

I’m slowly bringing my Holland Girl stories home to my website, where they can live alongside the stories I’m writing now.

There is something comforting about that.

We don’t really leave our old chapters behind. They become part of the story we’re still writing.

And then there are the books.

I’ve been reading A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas this summer, happily disappearing into another world whenever I can. There is something especially wonderful about getting lost in a book while sitting beside a lake. The real world gets quiet, and for a little while, you get to live somewhere else.

Maybe that’s why I love this time of year so much.

August sits right in the middle of things.

Summer isn’t quite over, but fall is beginning to whisper.

There are still warm afternoons ahead. Still time for another swim, another kayak ride, another cup of coffee on the porch. Another chapter.

But I can feel the season changing.

And perhaps that is what I love most about August.

It reminds me that endings don’t have to be sad.

Sometimes an ending is simply a pause before the next beginning.

This summer has given me time to write, time to read, time to remember, and time to think about where I want to go next.

I’ve been revisiting an old life in Holland while creating a new home for those stories.

I’ve been writing new stories while sitting in the same little cottage where I’ve spent so many summers dreaming about them.

And I’ve been reminded that a good life isn’t necessarily made up of big, dramatic moments.

Sometimes it’s made up of quiet mornings.

A book beside your coffee.

A story taking shape on the page.

A loon calling across the lake.

A beautiful summer you don’t want to end.

So I’m going to savor these last pages.

I won’t rush them.

I’ll sit a little longer by the water. I’ll read another chapter. I’ll write another page. I’ll watch the evening light settle across the lake.

And when it’s finally time to close the cottage door and head toward the next season, I’ll take this summer with me.

Because summer may be turning its final pages…

but I’m beginning to think the best stories are the ones that never really end.

Until next time, keep reading.

Lisa