It felt like summer

yesterday. Not the hot, humid, blast of furnace air that we so frequently get in Iowa, but the perfect, idyllic days of no care summer. These are the days I pined to enjoy when I worked. And now I get to savor each one.

In Iowa we 'praise to the Lord' these kind of days. It's all we talk about the entire day. I'm aware of this now that my kids live in California. Almost every day is like this for them. It becomes old hat, routine, expected. I can't imagine what that would be like to wake every day and know that it would be just as nice as the previous one.

When Josh lived in Seattle and I saw people wearing shorts and sweatshirts, I thought, "ah, this is the Eddie Bauer catalog". It never made sense to me in Iowa. When we wear shorts we wear short sleeves or tanks. The air isn't cool enough to layer. It's too humid.

Then when I was in California and the weather stayed the same and rarely rained, I could understand all those Crate and Barrel outside furniture settings. We can't put a cushioned rattan sofa on our deck for the entire summer without it becoming soaked and mildewed. In California they can create an extra living area outside, with a kitchen!

And when I was in Denver in the winter and it dropped 12 inches of snow, I groaned, but alas, it was not the same Iowa snow. It was just as beautiful, but when the sun came out and you walked outside the wind didn't cut you like a knife. The sun warmed you. You felt like unzipping your layers, removing your hat and gloves.

So yesterday when I was walking and driving in the pseudo summer of Iowa I wanted more. I wished that I lived in an area where there were more enjoyable days than less. I wanted to feel energized by weather. I wanted the opportunity to walk outside at any time of the day and not have to time my walk according to the scorching heat that would come. I wanted to live in an area where weather doesn't stifle my activity.

But I don't. I live here. And because my kids live in great areas I get to vicariously live through them and enjoy it myself for small snippets of time. And for as long as I choose this I need to relish each moment that transports me or creates an appreciation of the gift I am given on this day. For each day is a gift, is it not? We cannot be reminded of this enough.

Never enough.

Namaste.