Sunshine

This year the official start of summer was June twenty-first, also known as the summer solstice. Summer is my favorite season. It always has been. I love the heat, I love feeling like I'm in an oven even if it means feeling hot and sticky. It is somehow soothing and comforting not needing to pile wool blankets over me just to stay warm at night.

I also love summer because it means more time to spend outside being active. As kids, my sister and I could always be found outside running around my grandma's yard, relishing the extra playtime until the mosquitos forced us inside. It's a wonderful thing to not have to cut playtime short because it's getting too dark. In those childhood summers, we had so much time at our disposal, we would burn up all of our fuel from dinner and run back inside to chow on some leftover chicken or boiled potatoes before rushing back outside to keep playing. Those were the good days.

This year I wanted to honor those cherished memories by paying homage to the sun and all of its burning glory. That is why I set my alarm for 5:20 am so I could wake up with the early birds and catch the sunrise on the longest day of the year.

It wasn't the most spectacular sunrise I've ever seen, in fact I didn't even glimpse the sun until 6:05 because I had failed to account for the houses and trees blocking my view. It was still a delightful experience. Although I didn't spend those extra morning hours running around my lawn pretending to be a horse, I did get a lot of tasks accomplished that would have gone undone had I snoozed until it was time to get ready for work. At least I've grown up a little.

I also made sure to catch the sunset at Westminster Park with my boyfriend who didn't have the drive to wake up and watch the sunrise with me that morning. I couldn't blame him. It was ridiculously early. Viewing the sunrise and sunset for the summer solstice was my small way of giving thanks for the bright, warm sun that makes summer such a special time of the year.

Sunrise

Sunset