Goodbye summer

Two smiles
Originally uploaded by Crystl.

I'm a people watcher. Especially at the grocery store. I like to look into peoples carts and try and guess what type of person they are. Hmmmm. Half a dozen eggs, cheap beer, Twinkies, and frozen dinners? Single males, lives alone, still young enough to not worry about middle age spread.
The other day, I spied a woman in the produce section. Her face lit up as she noticed something. I followed her gaze to the stack of "vine ripe" tomatoes. Her smile widened as she approached and then lifted one of these horrible little pink things. I know what she was feeling. It's what I experience when I go to the farmer's market for the first time each season. I was baffled, though. I thought, it's summer, why on earth would you buy tomatoes at a chain, when you can get real tomatoes from the market or a roadside truck or CSA? The tomatoes at the grocery store, the ones she was mooning over, are the same no taste cardboard ones that will be there in October and January, and March. I almost wish I could get that excited about sub-par produce. It's cooling down now, and the Farmer's market is in its last weeks. I'm going to miss my bi-weekly jaunts to buy fresh local produce. I'm going to miss the weather. I get this way every year. The cold and the lack of sunlight really fuck with my head. Normally, I would just let this roll off my back, but, I need change. For quite some time, I kept reminding myself that I didn't need to see different things, I needed to see things differently. Now, I've come to realize, it's both. I need to get the heck out of dodge. Stop thinking of things as fixed and unavoidable. I need to actively seek what will make me happier. By this time next year, I plan on being out of Illinois. Wish me luck.