August reminiscences

It's August, which means that once again it's time for me to tell you all about how I used to hate August but I don't anymore. And I've been reflecting on how and why my perception of the eighth month has changed.

During my public school years, August was always the end of summer vacation, which is a little depressing. During both Augusts of my mission, I was in the hottest areas of the mission (East Wenatchee, WA, and Lewiston, ID), and we would ride our bikes around in the sweltering heat and up the steep hills, really wishing for a change.

(Speaking of missions, last night I had a dream that my old Provo bishop, Bishop Taylor, called me and told me he had a mission call for me. My first companion on this second mission was a sister. It was very nineteenth-century, since I was called on a mission without applying for one and it was a second mission.)

In 2010 and 2011, due to financial constraints, I left Provo in August and moved home for the fall to find work. Although I enjoyed those falls, I was a little depressed to have to leave Provo at the time when everyone else was in school, and I still was very anti-August.

(When I left on my mission in 2007, I weighed 250 pounds. When I got back in 2009, I weighed 190. A year later in 2010, I was down to 170. I've gained about 15 pounds in the last five years, but I'm not sure why. It could be that I have more muscle mass now, or maybe it's because I ran a lot more often back then, since I didn't have a job for several months, and when I got one it was a swing-shift job, so I could run during the day before my shift. But I think I'm in better shape now, because I can run longer and up steeper hills, although I think I'm slower. I regret that I'm no longer 170. I recall an episode of Bewitched where Endora threatened to turn Darrin into a 170-pound artichoke, and I'm sad that now I'm bigger than Darrin.)

In 2012, Augusts took a turn for the better. That year, I had taken summer classes but I was also taking fall classes, so I got a brief break between academic periods. I got to visit my brother's family in California. It was then that I really bonded with my youngest nephew, who was two and went around saying "You inky!" I had a relaxing week at home. I returned to Provo the last week of the month, and as I left the temple one afternoon, I looked up at the mountain and saw some fiery-colored trees near the top, even though it wasn't even September yet.

This week I had to eat a peanut butter Clif bar and listen to Lady Gaga's "Applause," which I associate with August 2013 and my geology field trips. I hadn't taken summer classes that year, but I was in Provo working part time, so I had a rather relaxing time preceding my field studies class.

And then came August 2014, which consisted of packing up all my belongings from my Provo apartment and moving back to North Salt Lake. For a week or so I worked from home, but then I got my own cubicle in the Church History Library. It's been a year now. I started my new position this week part time, and it's similar to what I was doing a year ago, but it's less interesting than what I've been doing since then--so it seems like I don't like it, even though I liked it before.

My Provo life and my NSL life collided last night, because my last EQP from Provo, David Jones, had a wedding reception in Bountiful. I left a Bountiful stake activity to go to it and parked at a church where I took my AP Calculus exam. I saw one Kelsey Blickenstaff, the last RSP when I was there, and Nathan Garlock, who unfriended me at Christmas, and a few others. It was weird to see all the people I knew from Provo up in Bountiful.

I used to spend my Augusts complaining about the heat and waiting impatiently for September, changing leaves, and Halloween. But now I spend them appreciating the extra light for outdoor activities, savoring the last popsicles and snow cones of summer, and marveling at afternoon thunderstorms.