Rick Bass:
(born March 7, 1958).
American writer and an environmental activist.
He has a Bachelor of Science in Geology with a focus in Wildlife from Utah State University. Right after he graduated, he interned for one year as a Wildlife Biologist at the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company in Arkansas. He then went onto working as an oil and gas geologist and consultant before becoming a writer and teacher. He has worked across the United States at various universities: University of Texas at Austin, Beloit College, University of Montana, Pacific University, and most recently Iowa State University. He has done many workshops and lectures on writing and wildlife throughout his career. Texas Tech University and University of Texas at Austin have collections of his written work. He also has a son named Ricky Bass.
My life, I realize suddenly, is July. Childhood is June, and old age is August. But here it is, July, and my life this year is July inside of July.
The quote is a poetic metaphor comparing the stages of life to the summer months. It celebrates adulthood and the blossoming of life.
– June (Childhood): Early summer, full of promise, innocence, and the excitement of what is yet to come. The days are getting longer, and everything is poised to bloom.
– July (Adulthood/Middle of Life): Midsummer. It is the warmest, brightest time, full of sunshine and activity. It symbolizes the peak of your life, where you enjoy the fruits of your labor and experience the fullness of existence. The speaker realizes that they are in this beautiful, blossoming phase ‘right now’.
– August (Old Age): Late summer. The heat is still there, but the days are starting to shorten. It is a time of harvesting, reflection, and the quieter, more mature phase of life dawning. The repetition of “July” in the quote emphasizes the intense experience of the present moment and the appreciation for the blooming period in which the speaker finds himself.
✍️ Author: Rick Bass (born in 1958).
Although this quote is often incorrectly attributed to Hal Borland, its true origin is:
– Book: “The Wild Marsh: Four Seasons at Home in Montana” (2009).
This book is a memoir in which Rick Bass describes his life in the remote Yaak Valley in Montana, structured around the twelve months of the year. The quote fits perfectly within the context of this book, where he not only observes the seasons but also weaves them into his own inner life and stage of life. It is a reflection on his own ‘July’ in the Montana wilderness.
Childhood is June, and old age is August, but here it is, July, and my life, this year, is July inside of July.
The line uses the ‘months of summer as a metaphor for the stages of life’:
– June = childhood
– fresh, green, beginning, full of promise
– July = adulthood / full maturity
– the height of summer, richness, heat, vitality, intensity
– August = old age
– still warm and beautiful, but already leaning toward decline and autumn
When Bass says:
> “my life, this year, is July inside of July”
he means he feels himself to be in a moment of ‘double fullness’:
– It is literally ‘July’ in the calendar year.
– It also feels like ‘July in the larger season of his life’ — a time of maturity, ripeness, intensity, and awareness.
So the phrase suggests being at the ‘center of life’, in a moment of abundance, but with a bittersweet awareness that August — age, decline, mortality — is coming.
📚 Origin & Author:
– Author: Rick Bass
– Work: “The Wild Marsh: Four Seasons at Home in Montana.”
– Publication: 2009
– Genre: Nature writing / memoir / essays
Rick Bass is known for writing about wilderness, animals, seasons, Montana, family, and the emotional meaning of the natural world.
✨ In Plain Language:
> ‘Childhood is the beginning of summer; old age is the end of summer. Right now I am in the middle — the fullest, richest part of life — and I feel it intensely.’
