Matters of Opinion: Labor Day Return to Normal

Click on image to listen to Ira read his column.

So, what’s your favorite holiday?

I know that just the mention of Halloween can give most children a sugar rush. I know that pyromaniacs can’t wait for the Fourth of July. My wife is never happier than when gets to cook for a small army on Thanksgiving. But for the sheer downright giddy relief of it, for the prospect of stopping to chat with neighbors again, and taking walks on the beach without black flies, and making left turns on Route Six without fearing for my life, there’s no holiday that holds more promise for me than Labor Day.

Why do people worry about in a Cape Cod summer?

Although I’m hoping it’s a trend that will not continue, summer has the potential to be really dangerous around here. In no particular order of horrible possibilities, I worry about forest fire as a result of the extreme heat and extended drought and summer renters who cook on charcoal grills under the pitch pines. I would worry about sharks on the ocean beaches if the beaches weren’t too crowded for me to find a parking place, but sharks are nothing compared to all the other blood hungry creatures out there, like mosquitoes carrying West Nile Virus and ticks with babeseosis.

Swimmers who prefer fresh water ponds have to be careful of cyanobacteria toxins and you don’t have to cook s’mores over a beach fire to start coughing and wheezing. Canadian wildfires can give you a headache just stepping out on your deck. I haven’t even mentioned the traffic.

When I was growing up, the best oldies to describe July and August were Nat King Cole’s Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer. Nowadays it’s more like AC/DC’s Highway to Hell.

Do people get sad for the end of summer?

I’m aware there are a lot of people who lament the end of summer. I had a girlfriend who used to get seriously depressed at the end of August and I get that. Good friends returning to school and work. The days are shorter. The nights are cooler and as people close up their summerhouses there’s a feeling of abandonment…as if the party packed up and moved to the city.

But I don’t look at what we lost. I look at everything Labor Day brings with it.

What is good about Labor Day?

For one, smiles. Really. Go into town, any Cape Cod town, on the Tuesday after Labor Day and you’ll meet lots of people you haven’t seen in months, many of them barely able to suppress a grin, eager to chat and catch up.

And now there’s football again. And the baseball play-offs in October that infuse even the world’s slowest game with some much needed excitement.

There are yard sales, and purple sunsets and apples. After a summer of what they pass off as peaches in the supermarket I really look forward to a fruit that’s supposed to be hard as a rock. Yes, I admit it, this is the time of year when suddenly everything is pumpkin flavored—chewing gum, tortilla chips, Oreo cookies, bagels, and dog food; no, I’m not making this up—but it’s also the time of year we get to wear jackets again.

And no, this is not about fashion it’s about is pockets. One of the things I really miss in hot weather is someplace to stash my wallet, my keys, my glasses, and my enormous smart phone, all of which weigh so much they pull my cargo shorts down to my butt crack.

How does normal return on Cape Cod?

No doubt there is no better place in the country to spend the summer months than Cape Cod. No doubt the summer is fundamental to our economy. And of course there are things I appreciate about summer.  I love making a beach fire at Newcomb Hollow. I love the sweet fat golden tomatoes from my garden and late afternoon swims at Duck Harbor.

But I don’t see Labor Day as the death of summer. I see it as the rebirth of normal.

I’m Ira Wood…and that’s my opinion.

Ira Wood hosts The Lowdown, a weekly interview program on  WOMR-FM  featuring authors, politicians, artists, and scientists, as well as cops, addicts, and fishermen. His guests have included the famous, the infamous, and the eccentric, as well as dedicated men and women who work to make the Cape and the world a better place. He served four terms on the Wellfleet Board of Selectmen.

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