American Summer, Lebanese Fall

We're coming up on Memorial day weekend. Maybe later today, I'll retrieve the suite of American Flags my Mom gave me last year and reinstall them in the front yard. I won't be alone. Most of the neighbors will hang flags too. Some of these flags will be taken down again after all the barbecues have ended, but there's one house, down on the corner, that will keep their flags out all summer long.

Although one risks appearing lazy rather than patriotic, leaving the flags out all summer long isn't without justification. Summertime is the most flag-wavingest season in America. Memorial Day in May is followed by Flag Day in June (which in fairness is rivaled only by May Day in underratedness), and the Fourth of July precedes the comparatively un-festive month of August. But lest our patriotic spirit waver, Labor Day offers one last flag-flying hurrah on the first Monday of September. Soak it in. It's good to be an American in the Summer.

Just as I associate summer with America, I associate fall with Lebanon. That's when their independence day is. And since Lebanese summers were iffy (security-wise) while we lived there, fall brings with it great relief. Winter? I can't think of a better time to be Russian than in the dead of winter. Sure, the cold is rough, but that's a kind of badge of honor. I can only imagine that the Russians take great pride in knowing that nobody but nobody can survive their winter like they can. That's when Spring rolls around and brings us to Japan. I don't know of a culture that celebrates spring like the Japanese do. One day, I would love to be there when the cherry blossoms open in a Japanese springtime.

Maybe some day I will. But what's more likely is that the next springtime I observe will be in Lebanon. We're very likely to go back in the fall.

I thought I'd share this funny little scan that I made in 2007 of my favorite blooms of a Lebanese spring. These nearly covered parts of the path I took four times daily to Star's school to drop her off and pick her up. They are among the most cheerful blossoms I have ever seen. Completely charming.