Dear Bank of Prairie Village Community ~
Ok, if August was a “transition month,” this means September must be a destination month.
The question of course is “to what” September is a destination?
For the remaining of 2022, there are two months with 30 days (September and November) and two months with 31 days (October and December). To put it bluntly, on September 1st, there will be only 122 days left in 2022 (30+30+31+31).
Now 122 days may seem like plenty of time to finish out the year – but this assumes you view time literally and methodically.
The reality is in a matter of days we will be celebrating Labor Day. The other reality is that beginning the day after Labor Day, all the retail stores will immediately start putting out Halloween Candy and Spooky Decorations.
Then, even before Halloween, the retail stores will start switching to Christmas mode. Yes, in the retail world, as far as I can tell, the Black Friday, Christmas, and Year-End Sale campaigns start gearing up about the middle of October.
In short, approaching the First of September is like stepping off a high diving board. Although officially there may be 122 calendar days left – once you jump off September 1st, those 122 days go swooshing bye in such a rush you feel only the sensation of falling briefly until hitting the water and coming up for air in 2023.
To confirm my anxiety, I noticed in late August a Southern Living Magazine delivered to my parents’ home brightly outlined in red and green trim.
The magazine’s red and green colors seemed so odd and out of place on such an exceedingly hot, 106-degree August afternoon, that I pulled it from the mail stack.
Blazoned across the cover was “Christmas 2022 Edition.” For a moment I thought I had vertigo. Having just awakened from a nap I thought perhaps I’d been in some sort of a Rip Van Winkle coma, wondering if I’d slept through all of September. What the hell happened to Labor Day Weekend?
Not trusting my wristwatch, I pulled out my cellphone to double check the date.
I confirmed the current date and that we were still in August – and then looked back at the magazine to make sure I was reading the cover page correctly. With relief I had not overslept – but with astonishment confirmed I was indeed holding the Southern Living Magazine, Christmas Edition 2022 on this sweltering August weekend afternoon. How ironic.
I stared at the magazine for a while.
Goodness, I thought to myself, those people down South must really take their Christmas meals most seriously if they start planning them in August.
All this brings me back to Labor Day. Yes, we are on the cusp of the Holiday Season Rush. However, let’s not get too caught up in the swooshing retail media madness. Let’s look forward to the “first crisp day of sweater weather,” the “changing of the leaves,” the “brilliant tree colors,” the “long shadows,” and the “craziness of college football.”
Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas, and the New Year should come at their own pace. Let’s just sit back and enjoy the beginning whispers of the coming Autumn Season.
(Sidenote confession, I did dog ear one of the Southern Living Magazine pages picturing a mouthwatering “Pecan Pie.” For just a second, I imagined how delicious a hot Pecan Pie would be on Christmas Day.)
Yours in enjoying the journey~ Onward!
Dan Bolen ~ Chairman
Bank of Prairie Village
913~707~3369 Cell
Dan.Bolen@BankofPrairieVillage.com
“The Bank of Prairie Village ~ Home of Blue Lion Banking”~ cited March 2020 and~ again in April 2021 & April 2022 by the Kansas City Business Journal as one of the “Safest Banks in Kansas City for Your Money.”
