What August Looks Like from July

In the last week of July, my mind turns to August.

Not because August has arrived but because August is coming, and the things required for August — the back-to-school uniforms, the transition from holiday mode to school mode, the particular battery of admin that September carries — need to begin in August, which means thinking about them now.

This, I've come to understand, is not anxiety. Or rather: it's anxiety only if it happens in isolation, if I'm the only one whose mind has turned to August while everyone else is still in July. When it's shared — when someone else has also noticed that September is coming and has their own portion of the preparation — it's just planning.

For most of my adult life it has happened in isolation.

What I'm trying to build, this year, is a shared August. Not me managing August and briefing him on the portions he's been assigned. An August where two minds have looked at September at the same time and divided the anticipation, not just the tasks.

He made the dentist appointments last week. Both of them. Without being asked. He saw September coming.

That's it, really. That's the whole thing. One person isn't enough to hold a season.