Enter Autumn

This day, the one after Labor Day, always has a bit of that fin de siècle feeling. One thing ends, another begins.

This was true, of course, during my long and stuttering journey through schooling, right up until I (finally) finished college and then saw that the life of a working adult makes no differentiation between Summer Job and Winter Job, that it’s all just one march through the same tedium in August as in September. This can be especially true living, as we have lived, in places where the leaves don’t turn. In the Florida Keys there there is just Oh-Shit-Hurricane Season. In San Francisco, there is just Increased-Fog-and-Thoughts-of-Suicide Season, which roughly correlates with summer elsewhere.

But summer has been resurrected in our lives, inasmuch as our daughter is starting kindergarten in two days. I will, as any solipsist should, have LOTS to say about that particular piece of bittersweet. But for now suffice it to say that summer meant something, and that it is over.

Our blog is feeling the seasons as well. You may have noticed that DadWagon was at the proverbial beach this summer, with a reptilian posting schedule as we concentrated on Gym, Tan, Laundry (or, in our, case: Crypto-Jews, Getting Lost in Indonesia, and Arcane Geopolitics).

Not that we will be traveling or working our day gigs less (Matt seems to be going to Paris, and I am set for my own string of workweeks abroad), but with our kids back in school, the family units dispersed back into society, I anticipate the ‘Wagon will resume its feverish nature.

Which is why I was so gladdened to see, in a site we know and read, a lovely writeup of DadWagon today. Jeff Pugh over at ManoftheHouse encouraged his followers who “are looking to be entertained and learn a little bit about culture at the same time” to head this way. Much appreciated, and we’ll be glad to entertain those who do come along. The only quibble I have with his writeup is that it seemed to have been tagged as stress-relief content. In the interest of full disclosure, it should be noted that we are more stress-amplifiers, and if we do our job well this Autumn, our children’s new school adventures will make public education in New York City seem like a pit of petty intrigue and despair, which is, I think, what it is.

I’m headed to Chinatown now through the torrential rain to meet Matt and Ted. With any luck we’ll have a beer, eat some gizzard, and get ready for the coming season. Hope you’ll be here with us, and tell us, as always, if you think we should stop having children.