Joy of Sunshine
We don’t have to feel bad for experiencing joy despite all the tragedy in the world. We can just take those joyful moments as gifts and then seek to help others to be in situations where they can experience joy too.
I’ve been living here in Western Oregon long enough to mark and recognize the first summer-line days. There’s a shift in the air, the trees have magically grown back their brilliant green coat of leaves, but yet the mossy neon-green sheen that seems to hang on everything from sidewalks to tree trunks is replaced by a verdant deeper shade of green. I guess it must come from the fact that outdoors things finally have had enough time to dry out after all the spring rain.
Growing up in Northern Utah where spring and fall never seemed long enough and before I even knew to appreciate springtime weather it all the sudden flipped to 100 degrees and unbearably dry for the next four months. I guess that’s maybe why summer was never my favorite season. I think it’s naturally to favor things we wish we had more of from carrot cake to more fall before the winter that always seemed to drag on forever as a kid. But these days, I get why so many Oregonians look forward to the summers.
First off, Western Oregonian summers are much milder than the kind I grew up with in Utah. Some years we experience 100 degrees and in rare occasions we even go through heat waves that last a week or more. But those are more of the kind of weather stories we save in our back pockets to be shared among friends to recall times when the community all rallied around the cool stations or packed into the air conditioned theaters. In Utah, if someone was to start a story with “Remember that hot streak when it got totally over 100 degrees ?” People wouldn’t know how to respond because that’s kind of how most August’s are like.
I know I probably shouldn’t even tell anybody because it’s a little secret we Oregonians like to tell about it raining all the time here. We use it to keep crowds out. But Oregon summers are absolutely gorgeous. Even the colors seem more vibrant somehow. The sky seems more blue. The rivers seem to shine a more brilliant sheen and things remain so nice and green. From about mid-June until September or so it doesn’t rain nearly as much and its then that I see the kids playing in the fountains, outdoor cafes loaded with happy patrons and parks fill with frisbee throwing families.
I promise I do have a point in sharing this. I’m not just trying to make you jealous if you don’t live here like so many post card messages “I wish you were here!” Thanks a lot! Me too . . . but I’m not so thanks for rubbing it in . . . No, really what I’ve been feeling and thinking about today has been that certainly every time and season has its benefits. We can build wonderful traditions and experience so much joy from so many different times of the year and different life experiences. We should try to enjoy every drop of life we can. But in those moments where we are honestly surprised at the goodness in our lives—I mean those moments where you’re able to look at your life almost from outsider’s point of view and to see how rich and full our lives can be—I hope we just let the joy wash over us without fear of when it might end or how long it will be until we feel this way again.
Oregon’s long rainy season makes the summer sunshine so much more vivid because of the contrast. We don’t have to feel back for experiencing joy despite all the tragedy in the world. We can just take those joyful moments as gifts and then seek to help others to be in situations where they can experience joy too.