09/02/2026
It’s hard to believe we have already wrapped around to September once again. In my mind, if you were to compare the months of the season to times of day, this time of year has always been the golden hour of summer to me.
Golden hour is arguably my favorite part of any day. Everything is wrapped in a warm light at the end of a day spent outside, you might feel a little sun-tired and maybe still have lake water in your hair, and when you finally sit down you feel completely exhausted but completely content. The day isn’t quite over yet, and you’re definitely not wishing it away, but there’s also nothing left that needs to be done. For just a little while, you get to sit there and be in awe of how beautiful everything looks immersed in that light and reflect on what a great day you just had.
There are still glimpses of summer left around us, but if we don’t slow down to notice, we might just miss them.
The late bloomers are popping up in the garden, and the afternoons can still get warm enough for another swim in Lake Superior, but the light is beginning to soften and the evenings are coming a little earlier with each passing day. If you take a drive out into the countryside, you’ll notice the landscape slowly shifting from bright summer greens into shades of gold, chartreuse, deep brown and burgundy.
I’ve always felt a little melancholy when I first notice those changes, because I love summer and I don’t particularly like saying goodbye to things I love. But if we consider that maybe September isn’t really asking us to say goodbye to summer just yet, but instead is simply inviting us to slow down long enough to really notice how beautiful everything is while it’s still here, that melancholy, at least for me, tends to transition to a posture of incredible gratitude.
There can be such a temptation to decide that September is either entirely still summer or already fall, and I think sometimes we rush so quickly toward the next season, or grasp so tightly to the one we are in, that we can miss this beautiful little in-between entirely.
I’ve been thinking maybe September doesn’t need us to decide exactly what it is just yet. At the heart of it, maybe September is simply an invitation to cherish these beautiful, precious days while they’re here, because Michigan sure does love to show off this time of year. ❤️
