Ah, the crisping month. You can feel it in the air, especially in the mornings and evenings. It's one of my favorite times of the year.
I'm not a hot weather fan. My perfect day: 74 and partly sunny, just coming off an early morning sprinkle, slight breeze. In other words: Typical weather this time of year. Some people lament the passing of summer, and so do I, but the coming of crisp overwhelms it.
While taking a walk yesterday evening, I contemplated my favorite months and decided to rank them, 12 to 1. It wasn't as easy as I thought. I had a clear bottom two and a clear top two, but the ones in-between? That was tough, but I came up with an ordering. Starting at the bottom:
12. January. What's there to like? New Years Day is pretty cool: day off work and a bunch of college bowl games. But the NCAA watered it down by eliminating multiple games after 3:30. The NFL playoffs are good, but the Lions are never playing. Other than that: 31 days of cold, with no break, leaving work at 5:20 with your headlights on. No good.
11. February. Would rank lower, but it's only 28 days, we're 31 days closer to spring, and the daylight lasts a little longer.
10. August. Surprised? I'm not, though I did vacillate between ranking Caesar's month 9th or 10th. It's simply too hot, kids start going back to school (which bums me out) and/or school activities, and I'm travelled-out--every travel obligation wears on me like a mail coat of lead.
9. July. Again: Too hot for me, and I hate bugs. Worst month for sports (it contains the only two days of the year that have no games in the MLB, NFL, NBA, or NHL: the days before and after the All-Star Game). Fourth of July is good, but I detest the city-wide fireworks and the 30-minute wait to get out of the parking lot. It's also an intense travel month that gets old by July 8th.
(Time out side note: I'm not looking at the year through the eyes of my children. If I did that, July and August would obviously rank a lot higher, but I have too many variables to consider already, without making their perspective a primary consideration.)
8. April. This is a good month, but it's too rainy, and the occasional cold weather and snow scattered among semi-warm days is one of Mother Nature's meanest jokes.
7. November. I like the cold weather this month: the lowest it can go before it shifts from crisp to nasty. Also: Very little snow, which is a huge plus. The four-day weekend around Thanksgiving is also solid: that Wednesday before the fourth Thursday is one of my favorite "work" days of the year. I'd rank it in the upper 50th percentile, but I have to subordinate it to the Savior's birth.
6. December. Christmas is the only thing to recommend this month. I could put this month at number 9 or 10, but for that one shining event. I considered putting it at 8, since the hustle and bustle leading up to Christmas drags me down, but the excitement of love that is Christmas keeps it in the upper half.
5. March. I could swap this one with April, but my wife and I celebrate birthdays this month. Plus, you see the first thawing, and few things are better than that vague feeling of conquest ("I made it through another winter!").
4. October. I like mildly-cold weather (30s to 50s), but not snow. This month is perfect. And the fall colors? You can't beat it. The drinking club shines in October with a gorgeous view of a tree-rimmed lake.
3. June. I like the death-and-new-beginning that is graduation: melancholic excitement. The earth hasn't heated up too much, and the bugs aren't too bad yet. Upcoming travel even sounds good, after nine months of staying home.
2. September. If you don't like September, you're either a hot-weather glutton or a person who fails to enjoy the present because of what comes next (winter). The cool weather is water for a thirsting man. The beginning of the month brings a return of football, and the end of the month brings the first sprays of fall color. Kids are still somewhat excited to be back in school.
1. May. Michigan is one of the prettiest May places on the planet. You see twenty different shades of green, plus an array of other colors: white, red, purple, pink. I can read again on the front porch, and the bugs aren't out yet. School is winding up, and it's fun to see the kids' excitement. The legion of end-of-year school activities and various spring events almost bump this one off the top perch, but not quite: wine-filled evenings outside keep it hanging on.
