The Longest Day of the Year

This past Sunday was the Summer Solstice, or the day of the year with the longest stretch of daylight between the sunrise and sunset. It’s no secret I have a certain distaste for many things about winter (the month of January, specifically, being at the top of that list) so when I saw the forecast for the first day of summer was predicting a warm and sunny day, I decided to enjoy it.

Morning
Unless it's pouring rain outside, I’m in the habit of getting out for a two-mile walk first thing in the morning. Not wanting to miss any of this longest day, I actually set my alarm to make sure I was awake for the sunrise and didn’t miss a minute of daylight. By 5:30 I was dressed in yesterday’s clothes (still in good enough shape for walking) and outside early enough to witness the rising sun. It was comfortably cool and incredibly quiet at that time on a Sunday morning; I think I only saw or heard one car the entire time I was out. By the time I was finishing the fifth of my six laps through the neighborhood, I could feel the sweat starting to form on my back as the morning cool was giving way to the warmth of the morning sun. It was clearly going to be a hot day, and I was perfectly okay in knowing that.

The Sunday paper still hadn’t been delivered by the time I made it back to my house, but I found it outside the front door after I had cleaned up and changed. I pulled every blind and opened every window, letting the sunlight and the summer breeze fill the house as I ate breakfast, read the newspaper, and knocked off the Sudoku puzzle.

Afternoon
Even as the day continued heating up, I left the windows open and the air conditioning off, instead deciding to celebrate the sweaty temperatures being here instead of the days when dressing beneath three heavy layers is necessary for survival. I took the book I’m reading outside and sat in the shade, enjoying even more of the breeze.

It was Father’s Day yesterday, so my family planned to get together and go out to lunch. The parents showed up at my house a little early. My father picked through the newspaper, my mother fired up the Kuerig, and I checked the late morning news to see if the forecasted weather would  hold for the day. By the time I found out that it would, my father had settled back into the sofa for a quick nap and my mother was digging through the books kept in my nice and breezy sun room to decide which she was going to borrow.

When we arrived at the restaurant, my sister and two of her sons already had a table, and thankfully it was beside a large window with lots of sun. By the time we left, the the temperature inside of my car had fallen victim to the automotive greenhouse effect that can be so prevalent in summer. I reflexively winced at the heat as I climbed in, but remembered the horrible January air which could be cold and painful enough to close schools. I paused to enjoy a few seconds of the lung-baking heat before rolling down the windows in favor of the air conditioning.

Evening
The heat became unavoidable by dinner time, so I finally relented and closed the windows in favor of the air conditioning, knowing I’d need it running later if I were to have any chance of sleeping that night. Nephew #2 had a baseball game that evening, and going to watch him play seemed like a perfect thing to do on the first day of summer. I painted myself with enough sunblock to fill a pair of shot glasses, made sure the DVR was set to record the first episode of the new season of “True Detective,” and was on my way. Even though the air was on in the house, I still kept the windows down in the car, with the radio on just loud enough for me to hear it over the rushing wind and traffic. On the trip to the ball fields I heard both “Let’s Go Crazy” by Prince and “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins, and for the briefest of moments felt like I was in high school again.

At first I sat with my sister in the folding chairs she brought, facing directly into the setting sun. I gave up my chair for my mother when my parents arrived, and went join a teacher I work with up in the bleachers. We talked about my nephew, her son on the opposite team, our plans for the summer, and caught up on the tiny bit of school news that had occurred since vacation had started about a week and a half earlier.

The game was very one-sided and ended early. When I got home and set my phone on the kitchen counter, I looked at the time (9:03) and realized that in terms of daylight, the longest day had just come to an end. I thought about stepping back outside to read some more in the fading light, but by then the mosquitoes were beginning to assert their dominance so I thought the better of it. Besides, I was feeling that pre-5:30 wake up time by then. Instead I settled in for the night, turned on my reading lamp and got through a few more chapters before the news came on. After hearing warnings of the summer storms that would be arriving early the next morning, I figured my longest day had been long enough and went to bed.

After all, even though the minutes of daylight would be on the decline starting the very next day, there was still an entire summer ahead to enjoy. And sometimes going to bed early and sleeping in late can be an important part of enjoying summer.