As someone who has always internalized external weather elements and had their plans impacted by the seasons I’ve struggled with doing anything when it’s not summer. Summer is for picnics, outdoor movie nights, more walks and just more outdoors. There are two things that have severely constrained these plans, the first is having kids (a la routines) and the second is having ironically having too hot a summer.
Post-covid, like the rest of the world I’ve been eager to embrace the opportunities that a world without a pandemic provides and seize every day, weather it’s by taking an extra long walk by the scenic riverside or trying to explore one thing place every week (restaurant, neighbourhood, town or hike). I hum the song “Long Way Home” by Norah Jones and look for things to do on the rooftop even when the air quality could be a little better or the temperature a little less infernal. I have to admit the summers pre covid have not been as precious as this one, even if the world’s climate is worse than ever. Perhaps, is the fear that next year’s summer and the year after might be even worse that makes me not take the current one for granted? This folly of optimism is probably driven by the summer breeze and brighter days but the one thing that I have learnt and hope to hold onto come winter and rainy spring, is that summer picnics are a state of mind and I am going to challenge myself to continue seeking something new, something creative, something outdoors and something bright even when the seasons may not be so.
The Transplant 
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