I am glad for how easy it is to be grateful in the summer. It's true! When left to my own devices, I am happier in when it is warm and sunny outside than when it is not. I'll concede that it's not true for everyone, but it is for me. I love the baking heat and a hot wind in my face! It makes me feel like I should go to the beach! Like I have a tan, and should be cocky and strong!
I have found a renewed passion for the entrance of summer the longer I live in a place where it is not always hot. As a teen and young adult, I felt smug in the hugeness of the weather in my home town. Always hot, a cold day could be expected to go no lower than 50 degrees unless there were MAJOR warnings on all media channels and very likely school would be closed. I remember a winter rain when I was in the 7th grade where that happened. If any of you remember El Nino, it was the anomaly that brought down power lines on the way to my Junior High and there was nowhere to keep the kids, so we all just left. Even that rain was nice and warm, even if it was torrential.
I always felt glamorous with my brown skin and swimsuit ready body. There were always events to wear the flashiest clothes to, and behavior was flirtatious and provocative. I was an LA girl and could do anything!
I'm not going to say I am grateful to have left that memory behind. I am SO grateful for that memory. For that girl who could live in that place and have that passion for her life. But I must also be grateful for now.
There was a TV show called Harriet the Spy back in the day, I think it came out in the mid nineties. One scene depicted a little girl softly and sillily mourning for the last day of summer. She danced and sang to it "au reviour!" Goodbye! But knowing that there would be happiness-es coming in the season ahead. I love the clothing I can wear in the summer, the freedom I can feel, and the comfortable, life-giving temperature. But I also feel excitement for the mystery of fall and the coziness of winter. There is more of myself to be found and developed in those seasons too. I like the largeness that I feel in that anticipation. It's almost the same as the strength I feel in being cocky.
I love the freedom of summer! Freedom from the rigors of teaching school with its unchangable beginning, recess, lunch, ending bells. Freedom from coats. Freedom from rainy roads and potential accidents. Freedom from dark afternoons.
ReplyDeleteI love the freedom of summer. Freedom to sleep a little longer. Freedom to eat all the fresh produce I want: watermelon, cantaloup, peaches, plums, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini (a little), corn on the cob. Freedom to lounge in a warm pool feeling the silkiness of the water and thinking that I must be sooooooooooo rich! Freedom to be outside until 8:00 in the evening. Just soooooo nice!