We have been having some fantastic weather this weekend in Chicago so I thought that I would comment on a lifestyle that people in the Midwest live into—celebrating summer whenever it is over 45 degrees.
If you are from the Midwest, you are most likely laughing, agreeing with a confident "amen" or shaking your head because you are one of those midwesterners that refuse to be a part of culture. For those of you that are not from the Midwest, this will be educational, and maybe you all will start to understand us a little bit more....or maybe not.
Us Midwesterners do some weird things—eat custard all year long, multiple accents (even though we are in the same state), and are fairly kind.... most days.
One thing that always is a good conversation starter is the weather. Usually, the weather is a conversation killer because the conversation lasts only about a minute long. However, in the Midwest that could be at least a fifteen-minute conversation because the Midwest is the only place in this world where you could experience all four seasons in one day.
A couple weeks ago over the weekend, it was seventy degrees. Everyone at my college was outside enjoying the nice day and in a good mood. By Monday it was 33 degrees with light snow on the ground—talk about a transformation! The moral of the story—when we get semi warm weather we get a little excited, and now you can see why.
When the weather gets nice here, it mostly goes something like this:
As soon as it hits fifty degrees, most folks wear shorts with a light jacket but definitely treat the day like it is a normal summer day. Cute pictures with some kind of iced drinks, tossing a Frisbee on the lawn of your college and hashtags that may say #Summeristhatyou or #funinthesun. Countless snap chat stories with the degree of weather filter will appear in case you forgot how beautiful it is outside.
This may seem like an insult to the Midwestern style but do not get confused. I am very much involved in this movement when you have winter that last's about nine months you get excited when it hits fifty degrees, and loose your mind a bit.
However, when actual summer comes, it is seventy degrees and the beaches are flooded and everyone looks cute. The Midwest still knows how to celebrate the great weather. Luckily I am from Milwaukee, and I live fifteen minutes from a great lake with beautiful beaches where I hang out at the beach, play volleyball, swim with my friends. We do get burned more than the average summer veteran because we are not used to such hot temperatures. But regardless, we in the Midwest are grateful for the seventy-degree weather, even if it is short-lived—we kind of expect that to happen.
Enjoy this summer season that is approaching us and never forget to enjoy the fun things in the moment!
