I am a summer person. I adore the long, sun-filled days, days where even the sun is so happy it’s summer, that it lingers even longer, reluctant to cede day to night. I love going to work in the morning sunlight; I love coming home in the early evening with the sunlight still dancing long into the day. I can take a walk or ride my bike to the beach at 7 or even 8pm.
From the HB pier, we can look toward land and see the snow on Mt. Baldy in the distance
Or look out to sea and see Catalina Island.
I love the endlessness of the ocean stretching out before me, the endlessness of the blue sky. The sheer vastness fills my soul with a beautiful ease and gentles my spirit.
I don’t want to give up the beauty of summer, the love of summer, the length of summer, the smells of summer. In the evenings, I’ll sometimes drive along the beach, enjoying the smell of the bonfires and the ocean air.
For many years, I’ve tried to embrace change and tried to find some joy in fall and winter. I’ve never succeeded, though. Everything starts to die in fall; the beautiful days die sooner and I go to work and return in the dark, saddened by the lack of sunlight. The trees start to turn colors, losing their aliveness, their greenness, as they, too, start to die off and detach themselves from the living tree. I can’t ride my bike when I get home from work, or take a walk in the dark or garden or sit outside reading. My joyfulness in these everyday things dies off when fall blunders in, destroying all the light and happiness of summer days and nights.
Fall’s dampness makes my allergies worse; already I’ve had a sinus headache the last few days and my eyes, ears and throat are filled. I don’t like the heavier foods of fall; I’m a summer-salads-and-stone-fruits girl. I understand that people who live in other places don’t get the wonderfully amazing summers that we enjoy here. To them, fall brings a welcome respite.
But not to me. I want to hang onto the hem of summer’s flowing dress for as long as possible, embracing the beauty, feeling the joy and the lightness of spirit that summer brings.
