Luna & We: Summer At Last

Summer finally decided to make an appearance here in New England. According to Sam Champion, the weather anchor on Good Morning America, Boston only saw 3 sunny days from May 1 through July 3rd. This is what our little city looked like in June. Not pretty. June, arguably the best month of the year, was replaced by March, a toss-up month, and one that occasionally can give you sunny skies with small bursts of spring, but more typically will rain, rain, and rain. The latter part of the month, when we did not see even a hint of sun for nearly 3 straight weeks, was the most difficult. Our house, with six large skylights and a footprint of not much more than 1100 sq feet illuminates even on the darkest winter day. But with the rain, sometimes a mere drizzle, and other times a driving persistent stream; the sky lights mocked us. Not for a minute, while we all hunkered down inside could you forget the weather outside. At one particular moment a cloud seemed to disintegrate just over our roof, dumping rain so hard onto the glass I worried about leakage. Sienna immediately burst into tears and plugged her ears, pleading with me to make it go away.

The mind can play tricks on you when you don't see the sun for 20 straight days. Some mornings we would wake to light grey skies and Sienna would remark, "Oh, it's sunny today!" It broke my heart, but then again, I too was beginning to forget what morning, noon and evening looked like. It was varying degrees of grey, every hour of every day, and as a result the girls bed time seemed to get pushed back later and later.

I wondered to myself how we could so successfully repair broken hearts and faulty arteries, yet there was no solution whatsoever to stopping rain.

During our unwelcome, and unusual rainy season, moods sank and completions ran sallow. Sienna worried me with her greenish complexion and dark circles under her eyes, and Luna's lips seemed a permanent shade of purple. (interestingly, Luna's lips will turn blue-ish purple in rainy, cool weather, yet when I check her sats I always get the same high 80's that I've been seeing with her all along).

Finally, just around the 4th of July, the stubborn 'low-pressure' system (a term that can now instill fear and loathing in many of us) pushed out to sea and we were greeted with sun and crisp-for-July air.

Sienna, my sensitive child, still seems off from the rain. At nearly 3 1/2, an age of unfettered energy, she complains a lot of being tired and I wonder if her vitamin D levels have depleted. Luna of course, in typical Luna fashion, never seemed the least bit fazed by the weather. Each morning we awoke to rain I would search in her for signs of discontent, but she gave me nothing. She continued right along with toddlerdom, practicing over and over getting in and out of Sienna's big-girl chair, and testing the limits of her new vertical status by creeping around and around the coffee table.

Finally, smack in the middle of July, life feels familiarly summer-ish again. In a few hours the house will be awake and bustling, and I'll run around grabbing towels, snacks and bathing suits for swim lessons.