Today feels like a *BONUS* day. It is May 31st, the last day dangling from Spring before we fall deep into the stifling joys and rambunctious heat of June. Summer. IS. Near.
It is a real day. It matters just as much as any other in the year, but it feels sneaky, sleak, or like a pink bubble-gum bubble plumped up perfectly right before it pops. I like it. I always have.
My favorite May 31st was in 1995 when my sister Mary, (the coolest of cool as far as high school “cool” girls go), invited or rather allowed me to come along as she bounced from party to party in her teal 1993 Ford Escort, Layla, on that final Friday in May. I still don’t know why she tolerated my annoying little sister aura that plagued me from birth that entire night, but she did, and I will never forget it.
I am not ready for Summer to start. It’s thick three months have always overwhelmed me. It grows too hot, and then just stays there. Still. Vibrating. Heat.
For months.
It arrives too quickly, and then doesn’t move fast enough. Plus, it could never in pieces or as a whole live up to the hype we heap on it when making plans for it in January. It is the season of impatience, but I believe it is meant to be a time to slow down. Right?
It’s a frustrating time of year, and kind of makes me crazy, which is freeing, sort of, because even when I’m boiling by myself, I feel like we’re all going a little nuts together. For example, feeling frantic as that first foray of familiar sopping sweat starts to trickle out from forgotten pores when sitting down in places we should not be sweating in; like plastic chairs in Car Wash lobbies, church pews, or on a wobbly wicker chair at a friend of a friend’s dinner party held at their neighbor's house because the AC is broken.
Or, it’s too expensive to turn on.
So we simply sit simmering together (or apart) bonding in our similar heated hellscapes.
For months.
Therefore, today (May 31st) is a day that acts like a drooping bridge begging to be jumped on and run across as it connects the calendar from the “What will be?” months of polite cool-headed plans, to the “Hear we go!” season of grab it all before it dries up for no reason. Well, it’s hot, usually, so evaporation is the reason, but you know what I mean, enjoy today, because the Summertime slam is right around the corner.
The song and video choice this week is my current favorite tune from the incredibly talented Frank Ocean, LOST.