COLUMN: An open letter to the Michigan summer sun
Welcome back again, old friend.
Greetings to your still, cool mornings and golden evenings. Greetings to the laughter of neighborhood kids, late for dinner, finishing a game of hockey or football in the street. Greetings to the smell of lighter fluid as Dad starts up the grill in the backyard — playing a game of catch with your siblings with the Tigers' game on the radio.
Welcome back, Michigan summer sun.
What's special about you is how much people appreciate you around here. You're therapy for our winter sickness.
You've set the scene for thousands of memories I've saved and filed away into my mental registry for nostalgia to draw on at its leisure.
Your annual return is so important to Michiganders, kids get three months off school to do nothing, but enjoy you. In your rays, I had the freedom to explore the town from the seat of my bike — once I learned to ride it. You were shining bright on the day I did too, right on my face as mom and dad pushed me off. From one summer to the next, you brought me "seasonal-friends" to experience the wonders of adolescence with — some friendships lasted, others ended once school resumed. You were there to witness the first time I kissed a girl, won a little league game and caught my first fish. You inspired family vacations, sitting back together on a beach on Lake Michigan as you sank below the horizon morphing the sky from a crisp blue to shades of orange, red and pink.
Nothing is said, but it's in those moments when your presence plays a role in shaping a Michigander's life.
You aren't always around. For months, we withstand the state's most extreme elements the winter sun creates. We settle into a mundane lifestyle, day dreaming about your return. So it's that much sweeter for us then, when you do come back. We don't take you for granted. A 75 degree day with no clouds spent inside is a day I'd wish to have back while clearing snow off my car at 6 a.m. in late January.
Michigan summer sun, you bring back our zest for living, inspiring us to get up, go and experience life's offerings. You bring back our appreciation for one another and the company of old friends sitting around a good fire.
Enjoy the Fourth of July and, hopefully, I'll see you tomorrow. You're only here for another 88 days.
Sincerely,
A Michigander
