Celebration of Summer

The long, holiday weekend – which many consider the official start of summer – commences in just a matter of hours. The temperatures are rising, the stores are stocked with BBQ supplies, the malls are braced for bargain hunters, and the highways are primed for the mass exodus that begins today. It’s been several months since we’ve had an extended weekend and it seems that everyone is making plans. It doesn’t really matter that school is still in session and that spring officially comes to an end on June 20, Memorial Day weekend has arrived and with that comes the celebration of the summer ahead.

From Memorial Day until Labor Day, we’ll be at the pool.

Growing up in the Midwest, the opening and closing of the local swimming pool was the best indicator of summer. It didn’t matter if the temperature reached 100 degrees a week before Memorial Day or three weeks after Labor Day, that pool would stick to the late-May-through-early-September schedule and we just had to deal with it. After living in Venezuela for many years, I came to appreciate the warmer climate and year-round swimming pools. When you live with eternal summer, it is hard to remember what season it is and the passing of time is ever so subtle. I think it takes a cold, dreary winter to make one appreciate the summer and celebrate it for all its glory.

This may be the reason why summer is savored in Finland. After so many months of darkness and cold, the Finns take every opportunity to get out and enjoy the warmer and longer days of summer. Many people take time off from work and their responsibilities to escape to a lakefront summer cottage or sailboat for the duration of the summer. I didn’t fully appreciate this practice until I endured two weeks of winter in Turku where we saw only four hours of daylight every 24 hours. In the Land of the Midnight Sun, you never go to bed in total darkness during the summer months and the farther north you travel, the longer the days become. I remember the first time I traveled to the Arctic Circle. It was incredibly hot and since our car did not have any air conditioning, we had to turn around and retreat back to Tampere. It didn’t make for a very good travel tale. Who would ever believe that it was too hot at the Arctic Circle!?

The midnight sun has interfered with my internal clock on more than one occasion. I was returning home from Luxembourg in May and decided to take advantage of a layover in Iceland. The plan was to spend 24 hours in Reykjavik and then continue on to New York. Even though I had requested a wake-up call, I decided to set my alarm clock as a back up just to be certain that I didn’t miss my flight. Well, I woke up in a panic at 12:00 and realized that both the wake-up call and alarm clock had failed me. I dashed around my hotel room putting the final items into my carry on bag and rushed to the lobby to request a taxi. In my panic and overall sleepiness, I didn’t notice that the lobby area was somewhat dark and quiet. Despite the daylight out the window, the receptionist assured me that it was midnight and not midday. She suggested that I return to bed and await my wake up call, as I turned away horrified at my stupidity.

Summer is a time for wearing flip-flops, shorts, and tank tops. In Venezuela although skimpy clothes are the norm, shorts are not usually worn outside of sports clubs, swimming pools or the beach. While short skirts and stilettos are quite common, you would be hard pressed to find a Venezuelan woman sporting shorts on the streets of any metropolis. Despite the summer-like weather, I rarely wore sandals around town because my feet would end up black from the pollution on the streets by the end of the day. I never forget the time my parents came to visit us in Caracas in early March and my mother called to inquire about what clothes to pack. She knew about the “no shorts” rule but wasn’t sure if she could wear white. For a girl from Ohio this made perfect sense, but it was completely lost on the Venezuelans who were not aware of the unwritten rule in the U.S. that you never wear white before Memorial Day or after Labor Day.

In the early 90s, I spent a very enjoyable summer in Bern, Switzerland where I never ate a bad meal. How could you when the mainstays of the Swiss diet are wine, cheese and chocolate? The food was fabulous and I was eager to try many new dishes, but I was not prepared for the rebuke I received when I inquired about fondue. As I quickly learned from my friends, fondue has a season and is not eaten much by the Swiss during the summer months. In fact, I was told that only the “dumb tourists” ate fondue in summer. So, when I was among my Swiss friends, I obeyed this fondue rule lest I be the ugly American and embarrass them. But you can be certain that on several occasions, I became a “dumb tourist” when my American friends came to visit just so I could sample this tasty treat.

Summer sure has its quirks no matter where you find yourself, but since this season of longer days and ample sunshine is so fleeting, I hope that you will get out there and enjoy it.