A day for flipflops

Today is the kind of day that makes a person love living in the Northwest. Summer is the best time of the year in WA, and we're getting a taste of it today with 85 degree weather. After a very long stretch of wet, cold, gray days, it feels quite hot to us pale northerners, and it is surprising to open the door and find that it is warmer outside than in! Yes, this is a day for wearing shorts and flipflops, and sunglasses can be worn because of sun rather than white raincloud glare. I deliberate between my Slick Silver Shades and my CSI Miami Shades, and choose the silver pair for today.

I hear the sound of lawnmowers, think of sunscreen and summer haircuts, and pet the cat as he rolls on his back in the shade. The smell of lilacs floats by on a breeze, while clouds of dandelion fluff are blown helter-skelter. Swallows seem to embody happiness itself, as they show off their aerial acrobatics high up in the clear sky. Seagulls float by more lazily, as boaters venture out on the water below them.

I am happy just to absorb it, as my weekend work shift is an unusually short and late one today. I am counting the days until I move to AZ, alternately wanting out of the wet NW and yet dreading the extreme heat and desert of the SW. Mostly though, I am looking forward to letting my voice heal, and setting my mind free into the great unknowns of grad school. That element of the unknown is exciting, because it means discovering new places, new people, and new challenges.
For now though, I enjoy the freedom of flipflops and the joy of a sunny day in the Northwest, with happiness like the swallows.