Astronomical and Meteorological Seasons

I'm coming down from the seasonal transition highs and lows.  Summer ended and I cried, but school started which always makes me feel optimistic and excited.  School wasn't the only thing that started.  All the electives my children and I participate in came rushing at me like a freight train.  And along with those activities came a boat load of stress.

When summer turns into fall, I'm sad and excited, and usually slightly overwhelmed at the same time.  When fall becomes winter it's a giant race to see how organized I can be.  When Christmas ends and the new year starts, I'm blue for about a month and when winter ends and spring begins it's a crazy, crazy, energetic and optimistic time. There's something about transitioning from one season to another.

And this year I was really excited to learn that there is a different timing of the seasons that works much better with my frame of mind.  For all of my life, I've marked the seasons astronomically but always felt like they missed the mark.  Fall begin with the Fall Equinox, Winter with the Winter Solstice.  This  year, however I learned about meteorological seasons.  These bad boys start and end earlier then their astrological counterpoints.  And they make much more sense to me.  Meteorologists group the twelve calendar months into four 3-month periods based on similar temperatures.  And each season starts on the first of the month. So fall starts on September 1st and ends on November 30th; instead of starting on September 22 and ending on December 22nd. Which means winter can start on December 1st instead of December 22nd.

I can't tell you how happy this makes me.  Why?  Because!

No seriously, it's the little things.  I want my seasons to start at the beginning of the month.  I want them to start when the weather turns.  I love that Thanksgiving and Easter will now fall in  the middle of the season.  This just makes much more sense to my way of thinking; a season defined by temperature rather than daylight.  Please don't get me wrong. I think the equinoxes and solstices are something very special.  And I honour each one.  But I am so happy that winter will start for me legitimately on Dec 1 instead of Dec 22nd.   And end on March 1st instead of March 22.  And now  I  have the science to back it up.

Now if only I could get someone to recognize that summer begins when school ends and that thinking about Christmas once your fall routine is underway does not require an apology.

I know, I know, I totally need to get out more. But I'm too busy starting to plan my Christmas.