The Sound of Summer’s Ending

Around this time of year, at not quite the end of summer, there’s a sound that always says to me, “Yes, it’s still summer. Enjoy it while you can.” I’m sure you know it too. It’s the sweet summertime sound of the cicadas. It’s September now, but their music will still be with us for a little while longer. There’s a lesson for us too.

I’m not talking about the periodic thirteen or seventeen year cicadas. I’m referring to the ones known as the Dog-Day Cicadas, so named because they make their way out of the ground every year during the dog days of summer in July and August. You know them. These annual cicadas provide the background chorus for summer’s soundtrack. They are so much a part of summer’s song that sometimes you don’t notice their continual buzz at all. Until you do. Like the lightning bug, they remind me of the more carefree days of my youth.

This past Labor Day weekend, I listened to them for four straight days. The weather was gorgeous with warm days and cool nights. It was so nice, we’d turned off our AC and with the windows open, could hear the cicadas whether we were inside or out. Each day, I heard them all day long and into the evening.

That “noise” is their mating call. As with most of us, they are looking for a partner before they die. With only a few weeks above ground, they may have a greater sense of urgency than we do.

As I listened to them on Labor Day itself, I thought “There’s not much time left little buddies. Soon it will turn chilly and the leaves will fall. Like summer itself, you too will disappear. Make the most of it while you can.”