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It is always bittersweet for me to say goodbye to another summer.
Every year, I feel a mix of emotions as I watch the warm season end.
As the sunny days start to fade, I realize how quickly time passes, sometimes without us even noticing. The end of summer is more than losing sunshine and fun times. It is a moment when life picks back up and the season’s quiet slips away.
When I was a kid, I wished summer would never end. The days were hot and felt like they went on forever, and every moment felt fun. But sooner or later, those days were gone. Embracing the fact that things change with the seasons can help us stay optimistic. It reminds us to appreciate and savor what we have right now.
With each passing year, fall brings me the same kind of sadness. The feeling takes me back to when I lived in Formia, a small town in Italy on the coast between Rome and Naples. I think about the fun days with my sisters, our slow walks along Vindicio beach.
Walking down Via Vitruvio in the afternoon was a blast. We used to stop and look at anything that caught our eyes while shopping. Sometimes we went into a shop for no reason at all, but the best part was just being together. Some days we walked home without buying a single thing. It is these plain, everyday moments, the simple joys, that make the season so special to me.
The more I think about all of this, the more I see that saying goodbye and acting as if nothing happened doesn’t stop me from missing things. That is why this year I am going to let go slowly. I want to give myself time to enjoy the memories of the long evenings, the walks at Vindicio, the bright shop windows on Via Vitruvio, and most of all, the part of me that belonged to that coast.
For many years, I thought the best way to feel better was to start my fall routine. I would rush to decorate the house for fall, adding Halloween pumpkins all around the kitchen and on the front porch. I’d light a candle at night when it was cool and call it cozy, hoping the season’s warmth would make everything feel just right. But it never did. When I finally let myself feel sad about the nostalgia of my fun Formia days, the change felt easier to handle. The season feels softer when I stop trying to ignore my feelings.
This year, I hope to notice the exact moment things change. I want to feel the cold air of the first cold morning, not wait until December and only then realize summer is already gone. Some years, I have been kind to myself. I try to be gentle with my feelings whenever I miss the things summer quietly took away. It’s okay to feel sad about what is gone, but there are also new things waiting in each season.
Where I live, the beach does not look like Vindicio Beach, but I still enjoy going out into the cool, fresh air and walking by the water with my husband and Claudio, my adorable Havanese. This walk is calmer than the ones I used to take, yet it holds all those earlier walks within it. That is when I finally ask myself the real question: not what I’m losing, but what I actually want to carry with me into whatever comes next. Little by little, I understand change a bit more.
What happened in Formia showed me that you can always keep a place with you. Even when you leave something behind, you can still hold it in your heart. Remembering the good times makes us feel better and helps us stay strong, even when things change.
As the warmest time of year slowly comes to an end, I am taking care to enjoy these last few bright days. They are such a nice gift from this part of the year. I am truly ready to say goodbye. Yet every year, I let myself feel all of it.
When the seasons change, I have to let go of what was before and gaet ready for what is coming. Saying goodbye to summer is always difficult for me, but I take pieces of it with me. I always remember the bright sun of our favorite beach and the beautiful company of my sisters. When I remember these things, saying goodbye does not feel as sad.
It starts to feel more like saying thank you for everything I got to have. Even though we still stay in touch and chat almost every day, I still miss those times we spent together in Formia, Italy. Nothing feels quite the same as those summer days.
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