The first cold morning in September, and why I need it

There is a morning in early September in Ericeira that does not appear in any weather forecast. The temperature does not drop dramatically. The sun rises at the same hour. But the air has turned. The Atlantic has, for the first time since May, sent back something you notice before you know it. I get up in the morning, walk outside barefoot, and I register: today is the day. I need this morning every year. Not romantically, physically. Three months of heat, during which you breathe less in your sleep than usual, everything is slower, the brain works inefficiently. And then this cool air comes, and everything stands up again. What my body learns here in Portugal each year: that there are seasons, and they have a job. They are not a mood. They are an instruction.