Late Summer Sighs

August is the exhale of summer… the long breath after the bloom, the heat-laden hush before the turning leaves. Everything is stretched thin: the days, the patience, the cicadas. It's a month that teaches us peace doesn’t always come wrapped in perfection. Sometimes peace is sweaty. Sometimes it has grass stuck to its thighs. Sometimes it arrives late, unannounced, holding iced tea and asking you to put down the sword.