Hook: The End of Summer and the Start of a New Era

Labor Day has come and gone, meaning summer is now unofficially over.

But that unofficial line of demarcation of summer – Memorial Day to Labor Day – has lost the meaning it once had. Both Penn State classes and the local school districts start before Labor Day. And although Penn State’s spring semester ends before Memorial Day, local school districts go past it. 

A week from now it will all be official anyway. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, this year the fall equinox arrives next Tuesday, Sept. 22, at 8:04 p.m. EDT in the Northern Hemisphere. After that, the days will be shorter, the nights longer, and summer will be gone here in Happy Valley.

And Labor Day will be but a memory. 

Except for me and our family. This year, for the first time ever, we used the Labor Day holiday as an actual vacation. From, you guessed it, labor. 

Due to timing in our work schedules it was possible for me, my wife, our two adult children, and their significant others, to spend a week vacationing together. After a little family voting, our destination was chosen – the beach. Specifically, Corolla, N.C., in the Outer Banks. 

When the kids were younger we used to go on vacation to Corolla every year during the week of Memorial Day with a semi-regular group of several other families. We would rent two or three houses, spend the days wrangling children on the beach, and in the evenings take turns cooking big meals to feed 20 or more people. 

Then as the kids got a bit older and activities, camps, sports and other things started conflicting, we stopped going. It had been 15 years since we were last there, but the memories were strong enough that when the decision was made to go somewhere this year, the family voting was unanimous.

Except this time it would be just our family. So we only needed one house. Meaning every couple got their own master bedroom. And we rented from Sunday-to-Sunday so we would only miss one Penn State home football game (you have to have your priorities, right?). Which, due to this year’s schedule the game we would miss would be an away game against Temple – which we wouldn’t have attended anyway – so we didn’t even miss a home game.

What a fabulous week it turned out to be! Sunny with temperatures in the 70s every day, and just a little cloudy on the last morning. No need to wrangle anyone on the beach – as fully-functioning adults they could wander off and take walks by themselves. And they even cooked us dinner! 

And these changes inspired an interaction between my wife and me. It was about the second day there when we were sitting by ourselves on the beach, and she looked at me and verbalized something we were both feeling – this was the start of a new era in our lives. Kind of like our daughter’s favorite musical artist, Taylor Swift. This was our own Eras Tour. 

Our kids and their significant others were having adult conversations, doing adult things, and we were occasionally enjoying adult beverages with them. And when it was all over they would go back to their homes in different parts of the country and continue being adults. This changing of our parental roles was something that both my wife and I were obviously consciously aware of, but the surroundings and the moment itself made it truly real. 

A little tangent here…

An ocean beach has always been a place of awe for me. Growing up in central Pennsylvania, water took two basic forms: rivers and creeks (cricks for those used to the vernacular), or ponds and lakes that were for the most part man-made. Both could be daunting – the Susquehanna River during the Agnes flood, or how deep is Rose Valley Lake? – but were otherwise on a daily basis just another part of the landscape.

But looking at an ocean is to gaze at the raw wonder of nature. Over 70% of the surface of our planet is covered in water, and most of that is ocean water. More than twice as much of earth’s surface is water than land. Yet, as humans, our primary dwelling place is on land. We’re mainly confined to living on less than a third of the world. 

And that ocean water is deep, mysterious, dangerous, colorful, constantly moving, and we can’t go in there for any significant time without some assistance. Which are a few of the many reasons I am always in awe of the ocean when I stand on a beach and look out over its vastness. 

So, when my wife and I were in the presence of this awe-inspiring spectacle, and she spoke the words that we are starting a new era in our lives, it made that moment all the more powerful. 

Which reminded me of what Burt Lancaster’s character, Dr. Archibald “Moonlight” Graham, said about powerful moments in the movie “Field of Dreams”:  “We just don’t recognize life’s most significant moments while they’re happening. Back then I thought, ‘Well, there’ll be other days.’ I didn’t realize that that was the only day.” 

Luckily for my wife and I, we recognize this moment and have marked it. This start of a new era with our adult children, vacationing as a family with not just blood relatives but others who want to be in the family.

It’s a memory we will carry with us for the rest of our lives – the Labor Day week of 2026. We won’t forget it.