Monday, October 05, 2015

Thank Goodness September is Gone... The Most Homesickiest Month

I don't like September in New York.
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The truth is, I would not like September anywhere except home (LA).  Because September in LA is so different than anywhere else.
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September is the hottest month in Los Angeles.  Here, and most places, it is the forbearing of winter.  And winter is a horrible thing.
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But in LA it is different.  It isn't the last gasp of a sputtering summer.  It is a quick ride after school to play in the surf.  It is the kiss of sun on your skin after a day stuck in the school.
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You go back to school in September in shorts - and it is the tannest you will be.  You look good.
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And wildfires come in September.  Now, yes, wildfires are bad when they burn homes or kill people.  But usually they don't do either of those things. In fact, chaparral (the kind of growth in LA) is designed for fires.  Small fires come through and clean out all the crap.  Chaparral burns really quickly, really hot and then moves on, leaving much of the better growth alive and with new fertilizer.
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Nothing cleans out the crap of undergrowth anywhere else.  You drudge along, dragging your old garbage with you into the future.  September in LA is renewal.
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September in New York is just yucky.  It smells like pee and you can't wait for the rains.  And then the rains come and they are cold and you know snow is coming.  And the crap doesn't get cleared out, it just gets buried under snow, waiting to remind you when the thaws come.  New York could use a good chaparral fire (metaphorically).
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And I don't miss the "colors".  I didn't grow up with colors, so Fall - to me - isn't about reds and oranges.  It is the purple of the Jacaranda blooms and the bursts of the Birds of Paradise (both imported from the Southern Hemisphere and bloom in fall not spring).
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And I miss football.  Parking on the fairways, bar-be-queing around the greens, and watching kids play football in the sand traps (UCLA parks around our stadium on a golf course)..
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I am glad it is October.  The winter is bad and on it's way, but I expect that now.  And don't get me wrong, nothing is worse than February in snow, but at least I expect it.  September sneaks up on me and whacks me in the head and says, "Yeah, it sucks here. Ha ha"
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