Back-to-school time

It's officially September, and I have the back-to-school bug.  It's been a full year now since I finished nursing school, and it feels strange to not be buying new pens and notebooks for the start of a semester at this time of year.  This is compounded by the fact that several close friends are going to back to school (for the first time in years, in many of their cases) this semester.  Their excitement, anxiety, and anticipation is infecting me. 

When those first few crisp nights of Fall roll in, I always start to get just a bit manic. 

Fall feels like the start of a New Year for me... much more so that the lonesome, cold beginning of January does.  In September, I feel an intense need to simplify, get organized, and tackle overdue projects.  It's a new day!  Old habits, procrastination, dust be damned!  Life is short and the air is brisk, breathe deep and dive in!  Each year before, I'd be starting school and pouring this energy into my schoolwork.  Last year after graduation, we were at Burning Man, then in California until mid-September... and when we returned, we were moving into our new place and I was looking for a job and studying for my boards... it all served to satisfy my Autumn urge to be busy.  I don't have any of those distractions this year, and this is dangerous.

The sense of possibility, of immediacy, and of endless energy will sometimes make me do crazy things.  At 4:30 this morning, while the first batch of Rambo applesauce cooked down on the stove, I seriously considered starting to paint the front door of our apartment (it's an awful color grey in our nice sunny blue kitchen).  I talked myself down enough to let it go until there was at least some light in the sky to work by.  It's 7:30am now, and just about my bedtime... but I'm still resisting the urge to start priming.  This is the kind of idea that posesses me in September. 

This was taken when we moved in last September (ha!  Flower, our pet skunk, got to that watermelon before we did... we learned to never put anything with sugar in it at skunk height ever again).  See the awful, awful grey color?  It's been bothering me for nearly a year!!

If it is found that I'm still awake at noon today, organizing my seed collection alphabetically or sorting the gravel in the fish tank, please send help.