Summer Solstice



Ah, that time again when the longest day of the year is here. I wish it could stay around longer because I love the long days so much and I know it’s all downhill from here, even though it will be a gradual change. I’m also a sun and summer nut because I much prefer the warmth to the cold dreariness of winter. But unfortunately we all have to deal with winter, like it or not. The plants do need a time to rest up for the lovely show they put on for us in the spring and summer and even fall months of the year.



Of course there are many customs and legends associated with the solstice, just like there are for the other seasons, but I won’t bore all of you with that info except to say that the Summer Solstice is basically associated with celebrating the sun.


Other than that here is a bit if trivia for you writers: Shakespeare dramatized the summer Solstice in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Here is a quote from him:


“...Whatever is dreamed on this night, will come to pass.”


___William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream


Of course this really makes me wonder about the dream I had last night that I couldn’t make any sense of and finally had to just get up way early today. I’m thinking it may have something to do with my sister telling me her granddaughter had been robbed at gunpoint on Monday night. That was really on my mind, but that is for another post, maybe. But enough about that since the Summer Solstice has come and gone until next year.


Something I did want to share was that one of my sisters and I have a birthday tradition that dates back to 1973. The reason I mention this is because the Summer Solstice always falls on one of our birthdays, usually hers.


We have lived in different time zones since 1973 so we can call each other when it is midnight at her place and it will be both of our birthdays at the same time. Amazingly enough we are still doing this every year.


In fact she was my last call last night after being on the phone with family and friends all day. My cell went dead so we didn’t talk long. At the end of all that, I felt a bit like Meg Ryan in the movie “Hanging Up” because I was exhausted from being on the phone all day, which is a rarity for me.


But a birthday tradition remains unbroken.