Living in Michigan the past eight years has taught me two very important things, regardless of where you’re going there will ALWAYS be a shit-ton of potholes or construction and that Michiganders definitely don’t take the sunshine for granted.
That being said, Memorial Day is our unofficial kick off to summer. That’s when us Michiganders open the pools, start grilling on the barbecues, and basically just soak up the few months of sunshine and good weather we do get.
With our days spent in the sunshine and laying out by the pool, it’s hard to believe that summer, well the first official week of summer, has really just begun.
The first official day of summer or what I like to refer to as Summer Solstice, was Monday June 20th. Summer Solstice is the exact day that the rotation of the earth hits the sun at some crazy specific angle and bam---we get summer! Summer Solstice, basically a fancier way of saying the first day of summer, is celebrated in many countries and various cultures. And in the United States, a country that literally has a holiday for every person, place, or thing---basically every noun, has no official celebration.
Now I’m not saying that we need another holiday where we spend endless amounts of money on greeting cards and other crap, but Summer Solstice is celebrated all around the world as a day of reflection and celebration for the good times that are in front of us. And I think we should follow other cultures and practices and really embrace and bring in this summer in a positive way.
Summer is a time of sunshine, happiness, freedom. And my take away of other cultures Summer Solstice celebrations is to really not take the sunshine, the happiness, the freedom for granted. We get so caught up in our hectic, busy lives that we sometimes forget how to really live them. We don’t stop and smell the roses, because we don’t even stop long enough to take a deep breath.
Summer is all about relaxing, soaking up the sunshine, and not taking life so seriously all the time. I know life goes on during summer and people have jobs and a bunch of other endless things on there to-do-lists, but we really owe it to ourselves to take a moment and enjoy the good vibes the sunshine brings.
Basically what I’m trying to say is that we don’t necessarily need a day dedicated to bringing in summer and celebrating Summer Solstice, but that this whole summer should be our own unique version of Summer Solstice.
Everyday this summer we should just enjoy ourselves and the beautiful life that we are able to have. The sunshine filled days that warms your whole body and puts that glimmer of sweat on your face. Honestly I’m not sure if it’s because I live in Michigan and we don’t have sunshine for half the year, but something about the sunshine always puts the biggest smile on my face.
Summer Solstice, the summer of relaxing, the summer of enjoying, the summer of taking time aside and really enjoying life, enjoying all these beautiful sunshine filled days.
