It happened four years ago, and it happened again just last week. Though this summer in Arizona has been less brutal than the last few years, I still couldn’t wait for it to be over. I remember four years ago, a hurricane off the coast of Mexico blew itself out as it moved across land. Arizona got the spinoff, and it snapped the heat and humidity and gave us a fall, something that we joke happens on a Thursday. Though summer is my least favorite season, I think we were rewarded by the weather gods for surviving the last few years where it rained every week and mosquito-carrying diseases were on the rise, then we had no monsoons and everything was on fire, then 109 days in a row with temperatures over 109. So, brutal.
With eighteen (18!) named hurricanes in the Pacific (so far) this year, two graced Arizona with their moisture. The first brought torrential rain and flooding in some areas. The second, a week later, gave us five (5!) days in a row of clouds and rain. The second hurricane was enough to snap the heat. I thought the humidity would make the desert super steamy afterwards, but it hasn’t. So, praise be to whatever brought an end to summer and set us up for fall, a season we very rarely have.
Like the weather that has ended one season and ushered in another, so goes the progress on the anthology. A delay with the cover is currently being resolved. The same with the print formatting. In every project I’ve published, there’s been a snag. However, it’s been a hurdle that I’ve been able to deal with because I was the only one handling the project. With several others having their spoon in the pot, the stirring hasn’t been positive or productive. I’m hopeful that both issues will be resolved in the next week.
Just as the hurricane spinoff changed the seasons, the spinoff of working on the anthology has changed how I view group projects. Digitizing my teaching materials also has a spinoff effect, like asking myself if what I’m doing is worth the effort. Spending a few days transitioning Holly and I from twice a day visits back to once a day has the spinoff of us hanging out together, me enjoying nature more, and feeling better about the change than abruptly stopping our routine.
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