Summer is here once again! How lovely it is to have longer days, warm and sunny. It’s even easier to wake up ‘bright eyed and bushy tailed’ for no reason at all. This is my first Finnish summer after having had a Finnish winter- I must confess that after the shockingly long and snowy winter, one can’t help but feel overly excited over the subtlest ray of sunshine. Summer does become a bigger deal than normal once you’ve experience many months of very little light and sometime no sunshine to speak of for days- from which I am only now recovering . The thing about summer time is that it has a transforming effect, it really changes people’s disposition. In these here parts you can almost see the difference in the way people change from the one season to the next. There are visible changes in the way they interact with others, every one seems to tread with a new and lighter spring in their step. The magic of summer is here!
I have always loved summer, I was a summer baby. However in all of my living years , I have never quite felt this much excitement just because summer had come – it makes me wonder; am I becoming soft with old age? Or was the Finnish winter that severe? Well…maybe it’s a bit of both. What ever the reason may be, it is a good thing.
As the whole nation is preparing for their holiday time….most will be going to their summer cottages to commune with nature and maybe even get in touch with their roots (however that works). Their days will be characterised by lovely saunas, dips in the lake, picking of berries and mushrooms and most likely visits by mosquitoes. It’s all part of the fun. The already long days will get even longer until for one night there is only 2 hours of dark and 22 hours of daylight-this is midsummer. A rare phenomenon to one such as me, one I certainly look forward to experiencing for the second time ever.
The question is; what will I be doing during my summer vacation? The plan is to have fun! I may have no summer cottage to visit, but I do have the two most important men in my life to spend my sunny days with. I intend to play football like it were a competition, I shall blow as many bubbles as the wind can manage to scatter in every direction, and I shall love and laugh like it is going out of fashion. These are the few things I know summer favours and since I, for one, feel this overwhelming joy at having this season come, I intend to make every moment count.
Apart from the above mentioned, My family and I will also include some leisure time to travel, most likely by ship on a cruise to Sweden. This is the perfect time to brave the deep blue seas while having a whale of a time.
What brought all of this up you ask?
Today I woke up feeling good for no reason at all, and methinks that I can count on many more days that will begin the very same way.
Am I making too big a deal of just a new season?
Maybe, but in the spirit of this moment, I have to say,that is neither here nor there. I am just loving summer and it is feels great. I will get my kicks from it, and I sure hope you will too.
Ps, I forgot to say that above all, I intend to safely sunbathe as much as my dark skin can absorb…after the long winter, goodness knows, my skin needs the vitamin D and this is finally my opportunity to make up for lost time.
Happy summer holiday!
