We've started our lasts

This morning when we went outside, Benjamin skipped down the front steps and then froze in his tracks. "Wow! Wow! Wow!" he said, "It's brrrrrrzy out here! I gotta go get my coat!" And he ran back inside to fetch a jacket. 

It was a little chilly. I pulled out my phone to see exactly how so. 

It was 67°F (19.4°C), basically room temperature, and there we were, contemplating sweaters and stuff. 

Granted, we were wearing our swimming suits. But still. 

Next (because I was still waiting for Benjamin (we haven't worn sweaters in months so I don't know how we even remembered where to find them)) I decided to check the forecast for one of my home towns: High River. Their high for the day was only supposed to be 65°F. 

I rather value being warm, so it always cheers me up to see that—haha!—I don't live in such a cold place anymore. I mean, look at this chart:

from http://us.worldweatheronline.com/

Their hottest summer months are the equivalent of our April and October down here, which is probably partly why I'm always rooting for our pool to open and close in April and October rather than May and September. I grew up swimming in 70° weather. Outdoors even. Because 70° was our summer.

Here we got up to 81°F today, which is obviously fall weather, right? 

also from http://us.worldweatheronline.com/ (go figure (no pun intended))

 We probably have a few hot days ahead of us, but there is a definite hint of fall in the air.

There's this one tree in our neighbourhood that is really gung-ho about fall and as we walked by it today we noticed it's already shedding its leaves. It'll finish undressing and will be ready to show off its bare branches by early September, I'm sure. We stopped to take a picture by it on our way to the pool and when we did...

...my stomach dropped a bit as I realized this is probably the last time we'll get to laugh about this particular tree's enthusiasm for autumn. We've started looking at jobs—actual real-life jobs. In fact, I have compiled a spreadsheet of 96 open jobs (and counting) in Andrew's field and they all have start dates of sometime between July and September of next year.

So (inshallah ) this is it.
We've started our lasts.

Lasts are always painful
But they can be sweet, too. 
Goodbye familiarity,
Hello to vistas new.
The end of a chapter?
An open door—go through.