. . . . Reminiscing the good 'ol summer spirit. Times are tough, try to keep your spirits high. Those lost can be earned back. Of course, except love. Ergo, appreciate those you love, who love you in return, for they are the ones who comfort you when you are down.
As the day lengthens and the sun fattens in the sky, a strange phenomenon comes over people ... we all seem to go a little crazy as the summer approaches. As we emerge, mole like, from our winter coats and jumpers, we blink into the sunlight and some strange kind of solstice-type alchemy shifts our habitual dour expressions into one mischief and madness. Our eyes start to twinkle that little more brightly, our hearts dance a little more freely and a subtle, full moon character shift lures us in its gentle grip. Hem lines and blood pressure rise with the thermometer's mercury and the cocktail hour gets by the day. The boring guy on the bus suddenly looks like Brad Pitt, queuing up at the post office is not a problem and working over the weekend is not such an ordeal after all. Well ok, this actually depends on the nature of your job. That time, I was working as an ice-cream vendor ... so it was nice to see lots of people craving for ice cream.
For me, the summer is about being alive, it's about being ready for anything, it's about laughing and drinking wine on the beach or in the park with friends for the rays of sunlight activates the brain. We spend our winters head down, ploughing our fields so to speak, so I love it when the summer comes along and gives all of us worker bees a chance to dance and be merry. I love that as the days gets longer, there is a certain rebirth in the air and all the things that all grieves between November and February seems to magically slip away, or rather gets put to the back-burner until the following winter. People are nicer and more understanding, children are more cheerful and by God, tout va bien in the world; with the spirit of summer tangible in the air, everything is just, well, easier and happier. But the best thing about summer for me is not the je ne sais quoi that takes us over ... because of course, it is easier to love when we love and appreciate ourselves.
Love in the summertime is the best tonic around to chase away the winter blues. From the teenage girl who sits waiting by her window, hoping against hope that her boyfriend will pass to a long term couple who sit in companionable silence and watch the world go by, there is no better season to celebrate love. Romeo and Juliet had it in the 16th century; Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal had it in the 1970s. Hopefully, you have it now, or at least have already encountered that magical feeling at least once. There is no fashion dictatorship to it, no magazine editor to tell you if it’s hot or not. You do not have to be tall and beautiful to fall in love, or rich or a perfect size 6. In fact, falling in love is probably the most politically correct thing to do on the planet! Unbiased, the simplicity of loving is just that ... simple. In a world where we are continually weighing up the pros and cons of our actions, it is refreshing to see time after time couples plunge headlong into the crazy whirlwind that may or may not lead them to the altar. The rollercoaster of do they, will they, won't they is the best ride ever for the time it lasts, before it settles into something more palpable. Everywhere we go and everything we do is tainted by the incredibility that “Yes! You too have been targeted by the mischievous little Cupid and his bow”. The Swedish say "A life without love is like a year without summer". I say that a summer without love is like a summer in black and white - you can still function but goodness me, it is certainly dreary.
(on listening to "All You Need is Love" by Beatles)
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