Here comes the summer. . .

 
June 1st. Memorial day weekend has passed and that means that the “season” has officially started here on the Delaware coast.

Personally, I can’t remember the last time I was so ready to welcome in the summer. Most certainly, this rush into the arms of the sun and heated sand is an offspring from the terrible memories of the one of the worst recorded winters in the region’s (and certainly my own personal) history.

Just yesterday as I was taking a brief stroll to my mailbox and felt the baking heat of the sun on my face and neck a thought popped into my mind informing me that it was only less than 4 months ago that the same path was a wintery barren wasteland of ice and snow banks several feet high. It made me welcome the sun even more and I quickly shook the imagery from my mental etch-a-sketch into nothingness.

I never want to experience that kind of winter again. It seemed eternal and I can’t recall ever feeling so darkened by a season. I fell into a deep funk that seemed to last as long as the winter itself. It was a new and wildly unwelcome experience for me. Fortunately, I made my way out of the ice tunnel and into the beauty of Spring.

And now, the summer season is upon us and I welcome it with arms widely open. Reawakening, remerging, renewing – whatever you wish to call it – they are all wonderful experiences – sometimes even magical. With the beginning of Spring, I felt as if I had successfully emerged from some dark and forgotten hole. I spent the early parts of Spring, symbolically dusting my self off, steadying my stance, and shaking new awareness into my head.

Now, Spring is beginning her swan song and Summer is anxiously awaiting her entrance. I will graciously, and with much admiration, escort Spring to her exit stage left and eagerly lead in Summer from stage right.

Already, l’ll be teaching a class with the Wilmington University beginning June 30th and I’ll be stage managing Christopher Peterson’s phenomenal show again this summer  - and of course, I will be painting up a storm with two upcoming exhibitions.

So, ladies and gentleman, how about a big round of applause for Summer. . .