treehugger
6-21-11, 12:41pm
The first day of summer has always been special in my family. My mother's mother, Elizabeth (which is my middle name), Omi to all her grandchildren, was born on June 21st, 1904. She lived until age 96, and then died peacefully, happy to have lived so long, but missing her dear husband, Kurt, my Opa, who had died the year before.
As long as I knew my grandparents, they lived in Santa Barbara, CA, where they moved shortly before I was born. That was a magical place to visit, a place of endless summer, mild enough to enjoy the outdoors all year-round. For 27 years they ate every single meal outside, on the covered patio, and food always tasted better there. I have their patio table in my backyard now (and I don't eat outside nearly so often...need to work on that).
The Summer Solstice was (still is probably) a huge party in Santa Barbara, with a parade and festival, and my grandmother chose to enjoy it as if it was thrown in her honor. Birthdays were always a big deal in my family anyway, but Omi's birthday was extra special because of the perfect weather, the parade, the food, the lemonade, the cake, and Omi herself, a generous, warm, sunny person. Opa treated Omi like a queen every single day of their 70+ years together, and he doubled that treatment on her birthday.
So, even though Omi died 11 years ago, and I still miss her, today, June 21st is a day that never fails to make me happy.
Happy summer, everyone!
I also want to add that I am not a natural summer lover since I don't do well in the heat, I stress about the extra money that a/c is costing us, and we don't even have any vacations or fun summer plans to look forward to, but none of that gets in the way of me enjoying the Solstice!
Kara
As long as I knew my grandparents, they lived in Santa Barbara, CA, where they moved shortly before I was born. That was a magical place to visit, a place of endless summer, mild enough to enjoy the outdoors all year-round. For 27 years they ate every single meal outside, on the covered patio, and food always tasted better there. I have their patio table in my backyard now (and I don't eat outside nearly so often...need to work on that).
The Summer Solstice was (still is probably) a huge party in Santa Barbara, with a parade and festival, and my grandmother chose to enjoy it as if it was thrown in her honor. Birthdays were always a big deal in my family anyway, but Omi's birthday was extra special because of the perfect weather, the parade, the food, the lemonade, the cake, and Omi herself, a generous, warm, sunny person. Opa treated Omi like a queen every single day of their 70+ years together, and he doubled that treatment on her birthday.
So, even though Omi died 11 years ago, and I still miss her, today, June 21st is a day that never fails to make me happy.
Happy summer, everyone!
I also want to add that I am not a natural summer lover since I don't do well in the heat, I stress about the extra money that a/c is costing us, and we don't even have any vacations or fun summer plans to look forward to, but none of that gets in the way of me enjoying the Solstice!
Kara