Here Comes the Sun

Image by Karsten Paulick from Pixabay.

“Little darling, it’s been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it’s been here
Here comes the sun.”
                                                —The Beatles

Decades ago, a science book convinced my brother Ned the sun was a star.

I scoffed. How could the big, round, yellow sun and white, diamond-chip stars be one and the same? Anybody with a brain could tell the difference.

Besides, had anybody ever suffered from star burn? Huh? Huh?

Image by Pexels from Pixabay.

Eventually, my teachers forced me to admit Ned was right. However, this April, I find myself playing cynic again. Despite Indiana’s strong evidence to the contrary, scientists insist the sun is still there.

Whether you believe the scientific or my sensible view, one important expectation remains: with May’s imminent arrival, here comes the sun! Let sun rituals begin!

North American ceremonials are less all-encompassing than ancient Aztecs’. They believed they perpetuated the sun by sacrificing human hearts. But we do follow the sun’s dictates year after year — despite protests from dermatologists, who prefer we live in subterranean caves.

Nope. No ritual is more sacred than sunbathing. Women will pay big bucks for the smallest amount of fabric they’ll wear all year, then don cover-ups and hats. When quarantine’s over, we hope to set up beach umbrellas and tents. We’ll slather ourselves and our kids with gallons of sunblock. A fog of its fragrance, similar to fall’s smoke from burning leaves, will fill the land. All to protect ourselves, at any cost, from the sun, for which we have yearned the past six months.

However, that’s not the only odd chemistry set in motion by the sun’s advent.

Grill addicts will barbecue every meal outside, including romaine (which is wrong on so many levels). Picnics will dot the land. Despite sun worship, everyone calls dibs on shady spots.

All part of the love-hate rituals we keep religiously with the sun’s advent.

Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay.

We also up our junk food consumption to proper warm-weather levels. Dieticians, citing the availability of fresh produce, delude themselves that we will eat healthy.

Seriously? In six decades, I have yet to encounter a single concession stand that sells carrot sticks. Unless they’re deep-fried. And dipped in chocolate.

Unfortunately, when the sun gleams through dirty windows, we sense a moral obligation to wash them. Our cars, too, as the slush excuse won’t work anymore.

We also fertilize grass we don’t like to mow and bushes we hate to trim as well as plant flowers we hate to weed.

Amazingly, we don’t avoid these rituals. On a lovely spring day, we may even embrace them, because here comes the sun, ready or not!

I think we’re ready.

Even if we get star burn.

Image by jplenio from Pixabay.

Your Extraordinary Ordinary: What’s your favorite sunny pastime?

5 thoughts on “Here Comes the Sun

  1. Andrea Menendez-Harris

    I love sitting in the sun snd soaking up the heat.
    It’s time out for me to read, and drink tea.
    It’s coming into Autumn here, so when I volunteered to work at the Testing Station, (COVID19) I would stand in the sun’s rays to get home..can get cold working in the wind and rain.
    Stay well everyone🙋‍♀️

    Reply
    1. rachael

      Andrea, thank you so much for your selfless service during these tough times.
      Here in Indiana, our April has produced snow one day, then 60 degrees the next! Very typical for this time of year.
      But autumn or not, I hope you have plenty of sunshiny days to bless and warm your already warm heart!

      Reply
    2. Andrea Menendez-Harris

      Thank you for your reply Rachael. I am happy yo be of service. Yes the weather is peculiar..warm days at the beginning of the week, now the rain is torrential.
      I have one of your books from the ‘Amish Turns of Time’ series. I see there are four others. Are they written as a sequel? If so, ( or if not) what order do you recommend to read them in?
      Wsrm Wishes from Andrea🌹

      Reply
      1. rachael

        Hi, Andrea, Actually, I didn’t write any of the Amish Turns of Time series. I did write seven books of the Amish Inn series. If you’re interested in those, I’ll give you the order in which they come.
        Hope your lovely weather and your good health continue! Blessings.

        Reply
        1. Andrea Menendez-Harris

          Hi Rachel, sorry about that…using the wrong book titles 🙄
          Yes, I’d love to have the 7 titles of the ‘Amish Inn’ Series. Thank you.
          I prefer to be served by human beings as opposed to a machine at self-service..less hair-raising. Though I’m happy to tag along with my daughter- she’s so quick and confident.
          We’re all well Thank you, and hope you and your family (and readers) continue to be well.
          (Now we nedd to conserve water..which I think I do anyway). Take care, Andrea🙋‍♀️🌹

          Reply

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