The summer of our discontent — the summer that hasn’t been — is just about half over. June has come and gone and we are just past the midway point of July, which means that there are only seven weekends left until Labor Day.

The arrival of summer has been a blessing for just about all of us during this pandemic. We can go outside and enjoy the fresh air (which, by the way, has been the cleanest it has been in decades in our area thanks to the reductions of emissions from automobile, jet aircraft, and cruise ship traffic).

Although our gyms have been closed, we can run, walk, bicycle, and swim for exercise. Our children can go outside and be children. And for those who simply like to relax, the beaches and our boats have been a welcome respite from our months of lockdown.

But if we look beyond these next seven weeks, the future does not seem to be very pleasant.

The lockdowns and quarantines that first began in mid-March were ameliorated by the imminent arrival of spring weather. But as the weather soon begins to turn colder and stormier after Labor Day, and the days grow shorter, our outdoor activities will be limited.

The phased reopenings this summer have been difficult enough, but as the weather turns for the worse, we fear that so too, will our mental and physical health worsen. The winter of 2020-21 promises to be the most challenging of our lifetimes on many levels.

So as we enter the second half of the summer season, let’s make the most of the weeks we have left — always with masks and social distancing — to create memories for ourselves and our children that will bolster us for the difficult days to come.