Tuesday Stew: Where did the Fifth Come From?

The Tuesday Stew once again will consist of a chopped up hunk of issue that irritates The Prude, thrown in a pot with some hyperbole, seasoned with crankiness, and offered up in a 300-some-word tureen.

The Prude disapproves of the 5^th of July.

Independence Day is the top of the Summer Rollercoaster.

We’ve spent the weeks since Memorial Day slowly climbing to the peak.

We savor long days, fresh air, gardens growing lush and green.

4^th of July weekend and we are at the top of summer! The crescendo! Our pulses beat fast with family and friends and fireworks and for a split second we are on top of Summer, All the vistas of picnics, vacations, farmer’s markets, boat rides, the zoo, the ballpark, and the pool spread out endlessly beneath us. We could perch up there forever.

And then we hit the 5^th.

The rollercoaster picks up speed no matter how we try to slow it down. Air that had been fresh on the way up becomes humid and oppressively hot. The days get shorter. The garden demands constant attention and so do the insects that infiltrate our homes and our

personal space. Faster and faster we head down, as School Supply Sales and Fall Fashion Forecasts flash by.

We try to slow the rush of August, some of us by closing our eyes and muttering prayers, others by throwing arms in the air to increase resistance.

Nothing works, and we realize we are going to crash right into Labor Day.

The dizzying ride of summer is over and we prepare to exit to our left, sweaty, limp and exhausted.

But what’s that?

The ride isn’t over?

It climbs again, and ahead we see fresh fall days, cool temperatures, bright leaves and a harvest of delights! And could that be the death rattle of billions of dying insects that greets our ears?

Hold on folks. 

What we thought was the Summer Rollercoaster is just part of the Thrill of the Seasons Superjumbo Ride.

Remind The Prude that the 5^th of July is just only one cog on that ride, to be savored along with the other 364.