You’ll hear that a lot this weekend – the last weekend of summer.

Yeah, I know, officially there are still three more weekends left of summer. But we know they don’t count. Vacations are over. Kids are back in school. Mornings are colder. Days are shorter. Leaves are turning right before our very eyes.

I don’t care what the calendar says, by dinner time on Labor Day we’re into fall. It’s like Christmas. Officially, it lasts for 12 days. But on December 26, you’re making plans for New Year’s Eve and starting to take down the tree.

As I write this, I can feel summer slipping away. Don’t be fooled by these warm days that gave us a false sense of summer security. With every keystroke, I’m losing another moment. There, that moment is gone. Now that moment is gone. And another.

At best, you have 72 hours to enjoy summer. That’s if you’re reading this on Friday. If so, I suggest you skip work, ignore the yard chores, have some fun. But if you waited until the weekend to read this, I’m sorry, but it might be too late. So let me ask, `Did you have a nice summer?’

I’m never really sure how to answer that. Compared to what? Winter? Yeah, it was a great summer.

Compared to the summer I got married? Nothing will ever beat the summer I got married. Good answer, huh?

Compared to last summer? I can’t remember last week, let alone last summer. But I don’t think it rained as much. And I think last summer was a lot hotter. It always seems the previous summer was hotter with less rain.

No one ever asks if you had a good winter. Unless you happen to run a ski lodge, sell snowmobiles, or plow out driveways. Even then, they’ll ask you if you had a good season.

I don’t think there’s such a thing as a good winter. Just, long or short winters. Cold winters, snowy winters, icy winters, or mild winters.

The only folks you ask if they had a good winter are the ones who had a good winter: Snowbirds who just came up from Florida. And you only ask them to be polite – because you know they can’t wait to tell you how cold the winter was down in Boca Boca Del Rio Vista. Yeah, for a week in March, they had to put on sweaters.

We don’t ask if someone’s having a good spring or fall because, by the time they answer, the season is over. Around here, fall and spring are more like transitional periods.

So, did you have a good summer?

The problem is we don’t give ourselves the chance to sit back and enjoy summer. If you do nothing, folks say you’re wasting a perfectly good summer day. The fact is, it’s a perfectly good summer day because you decided not to do a thing.

We also put a lot of pressure on our summers.

Got to hit the beach, the ballpark, go for a walk, a bike ride, a boat ride, meet new friends at camp, see old friends at the fair, and see everyone at the family reunion. Grill every piece of meat, soak up every bit of sun, and fill up on all the fried dough, s’mores, and kettle corn our stomachs can take. Too much to do, and too little time.

At the end of every summer, I create a mental to-do list for the next summer.

I was thinking this was the year we’d pitch a tent and go for an overnight with the grandkids. I’d try to get in a round of golf. Maybe canoe the Delaware. They’ve all been bumped to next year’s to-do list. On the flip side, also moved to next summer was Bonnie’s Barry to-do list.

The only thing left to do now is hope for a good winter. 

Barry Lewis is a longtime journalist and author who lives with his wife Bonnie in the Town of Neversink. He can be reached at      barrylewisscdemocrat@gmail.com.