This column initially appeared in the July 2019 edition of Gaston Alive! Magazine.
It’s already come and gone. Oftentimes with a whimper. In fact, if you’re not careful, you might miss it. It makes me wonder – why don’t we make a bigger deal out of the big Summer Solstice each year? After all, it’s the longest day of the year and the first day of summer, meteorologically speaking. Although, I’m no meteorologist, so I can’t get behind that as the beginning of summer.
At the same time, I also can’t get behind Memorial Day as the official “unofficial” kick-off of summer. That feels good if you rely on travel and tourism dollars as your primary source of income. To me, the first true day of summer is the first day after the last day of school – whenever that is.
However, using my logic, that implies that you can only experience summer if you’re currently enrolled in school. I haven’t seen the inside of a classroom since May of 1999, which could stand to mean that I haven’t truly experienced a summer in almost 20 years.