stifling

It is. Everywhere. So hot. And I love it. So much so that these moments I spend indoors, I can only look longingly out the window at what could be if only I wasn't stuck in a cubicle. Trickles of sweat down my brow make me smile. Not worrying about jeans being too tight...just prancing around in a summer dress. Jeans are always too tight, you know. I try a bigger size, and it doesn't matter. Summer, however, is so wonderful. Nothing tastes as good as in the summer. Tomatoes. Iced coffee. Strawberries. Lemonade. Water. Zucchini.

The stifling feeling comes in when you can't embrace it. It is stifling to walk around the city in business casual and dread going into the office sweaty or at all. To not have pool nearby with open access during the hottest parts of the day. To walk around without bug spray and expect to not get bitten. To buy produce at the grocery store instead of the farmers market. To keep the air as low as possible inside so that going outside is like stepping into a sauna.

That's not to say we should all leave our windows open during the summer, get rid of air conditioning, quit our jobs, not buy deodorant, plan to build a pool in our backyards [tiny patios], boycott all grocery stores no matter their convenience, and make all jeans into cut offs.

Do go outside though. With your dog. Or baby. Or an old fashioned. Or all three. And be prepared for sweat. This season is precious, and it doesn't have to be stifling.

Then again - they don't call these the dog days of summer for nothing. We can all learn something from Mina.

I leave you with a song of summer: