Family
Why I Dread the End of Summer So Much
How to make the season of sun and fun stretch.
Elena Lacey (Getty Images, 5)
I have loved summer since I joined the local swim team at six years old — the swim meets, friends, ice cream sandwiches, sunshine, cool water on my skin on a hot day. It also meant staying up later, eating cheeseburgers and buttered corn on the cob my father grilled on the patio. And of course, no homework.
Summer is even better at 68 with outdoor concerts, al fresco dinners with besties al fresco, strolls before sunset, swimming outdoors, gorgeous flowers on the porch, walks on the beach, plein air oil painting in parks, wearing bright colors in single layers and sandals without socks.
Living in what feels like a two-season climate in Chicago, I dive deep into summer activities and then elongate my happiness by continuing to enjoy what I can re-create all year long. Maybe that isn’t eating outdoors in January, but I can wear bright colors, keep active and meet up with friends for good music and great food.
“Wonder and happiness are inside of us,” says Sophy Burnham, best-selling author of 17 books, including her latest, The Wonder and Happiness of Being Old. The author, who turns 90 this December, told me, “Happiness is something we learn, but as adults, we generally live in either the future or the past, neither making us happy. Stay in the present.”
As a woman who fell madly in love at 82 (it lasted two years), Burnham says, “What makes you happy is to love someone, to be loved by many, to have many friends who admire you, to do some service every single day for others, and also to do something nice for someone else.”
Activity, friends and sunshine — all summertime components — contribute to a sense of joy, Burnham says, which is perhaps why the approach of Labor Day and the September farewell to the shiniest season can be unsettling.
Wearing sleeveless dresses and perky espadrilles, while not worrying if my hair is behaving, makes me happy. Swimming laps outdoors in the early morning or evening and having meet-ups with friends on the calendar make me even happier.
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“You can still be outdoors in the winter, stay active and athletic, go skiing or snowshoeing,” says Burnham, who lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she bought a horse at 68 and rode it for 20 years. “You can also move to a warmer climate and have asparagus in February.”
Fresh vegetables, fish and fruits she retrieves at a weekly local farmers market are a few of the reasons why Sheila Martinotti, 70, a retired health care program specialist, loves summer.
It’s so many other things, too.
“Longer hours with the sun out, more family time, plus people are laid-back, people visit and travel more,” says Martinotti. “I have a sense of happiness and peace. I think people are happier with the sun out, are much kinder and more tolerant of things.” Martinotti grew up in a family of seven in a house with no air conditioning. She is also a “snowbird” who flees the Midwestern winters to rent a place in South Florida for two or three months.
It’s true. Studies show weather and sunshine help shape how older people feel, or as researchers call it, your subjective age. Researchers in a 2024 study published in Innovation in Aging found, “Individuals participating during sunnier periods or seasons felt several years younger than those participating during cloudy or darker seasons. This does not come as a surprise because weather conditions shape the everyday life and aging experiences of older adults to a considerable degree.”
Another 2025 study examined the benefits of sunlight on older people and found, “Sunlight exposure, particularly the ultraviolet B (UVB) rays, stimulates the synthesis of vitamin D in the skin, a process that is critical to bone development, immune function and overall metabolic balance,” the report says. “Vitamin D, often referred to as the ‘sunshine vitamin’ … is vital for calcium absorption, bone mineralization and the prevention of rickets, osteoporosis and certain autoimmune diseases. Sunlight has also been shown to influence mood and cognitive function.”
And certainly, scientists and health providers acknowledge risks of skin cancer, melanoma and other damage from UV rays. Sunscreen, hats, clothing and limiting exposure when UV rays are strongest can address those risks. Besides, straw hats come in many styles and colors.
You can also swim, bike, walk, run, play tennis or pickleball in the early morning, at dusk or in the shade, as many summer lovers do. I swim 60 laps five or six times a week at a local outdoor pool and it calms me. On a hot day, the cool water is solace and rescue.
It’s the same for Elizabeth Santelli, 73, who is retired from corporate work and lives in the Chicago suburbs where she swims outdoors most days of the week. “Summer is easier, people smile more,” she says. “I laugh more — but not underwater.”
Like all good seasons, summer is coming to an end. But it is possible to replicate the joy you might feel from May through August by identifying what makes you happy and why.
As summer wanes, I salute a string of glorious days spent swimming laps outdoors, savoring freshly sliced watermelon and meeting friends for a back porch dinner where we laugh until long after the sun sets. Then I watch a summer romance on TV and fall asleep under the fan’s swirling hum — not too hot, not too cold, just right.
How many of YOU dread the end of summer? Let us know in the comments below.
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