I'm Not Leaving // lrh

34 || last act of summer

brooklyn, new york
10:30pm

A

For the first morning in months, I ordered a hot latte at the café before work.

Summer's winding down in the city. It's officially cloudy in the mornings.

Earlier this week, I started closing the windows all the way shut. Now in the evenings, it's starting to cool down a bit too much for my liking. I'm not in the mood for long, warm walks home after work anymore. I don't 'tan' sitting out on the fire escape during lazy weekend afternoons. I'm officially over seasonal flavors. Lemonades and strawberries.

And the tourists, they're clearing out of my favorite spots in droves.

It's sort of a big deal for me. The familiarity of it, the feeling of a seasonal transition I recognized right away.

I haven't had that in a really long time. I haven't been in one place long enough to see one season and feel it come back a year later. Not since I left Massachusetts. I wasn't even in New Haven long enough to see the winter in its full form.

But I moved to New York City in the tail end of a record breaking heater of a summer. I finally had my own place by the time August faded into September.

I watched the leaves change, closed the windows earlier in the day like I'm doing now. On my first walk home from my first day at work, I went out of my way to crunch the first handful of dead leaves that fell to the ground.

I've always been an autumn girl. Some things just never change.

My first autumn in New York, I relished in the pumpkin flavored everything. I lived for the view of the park, the bright colors of the changing leaves that still haven't completely fallen, the boots I wore instead of sneakers. I found it so cute and thoughtful when stores had offerings of plastic bags designed specifically for your wet umbrellas. It reminded me of home.

Summer turned into fall and I was still here.

This year, I'm staying in on a Friday night so I could clean out the closet. I decided it's officially time to store my summer clothes, toss the outdated stuff for Goodwill, and stock my new finds that mostly consist of coats and wool sweaters.

The only summer stuff I didn't put away, was my haul for Miami.

Apparently, it stays hot down there way longer than it does up here. So I'll need my skimpiest bikinis and Levi cut offs for another few days before they officially go into storage until next summer.

Luke and I figured over a late night call earlier this week that it'll be way harder for me to go and see him once the tour takes him overseas. We should cash in on the convenience now, while we can.

And besides...who doesn't love Miami? When I thought about it I realized, I did almost no summer activities this year! That's a tragedy!

"I - I don't know..." I shook my head, which made Luke laugh.

"What? It's Miami Luke not exactly nondescript."

"You love Miami."

"Do I?"

"You're all...snow and foliage heh. I get that, Mar."

"Snow and foliage?" I giggle.

"But I swear. You on a beach, tanning, with like a piña colada in your hand, I swear you've been a beach bum for life."