The Seemingly Eternal Sun

I know that if you live north of Seattle (Canada, Alaska, Iceland, etc...) you will say "Oh yeah, well you should see what it's like here..." but let me give all of you "southerners" an idea of what late June and early July are like here (when it's not cloudy and raining).

I woke up this morning at 5:30am and it looked like it was noon because there was so much sunlight beaming in to my bedroom. At 7:30am it could have just as well been 3:30 in the afternoon outside. I don't mention this as a complaint, by the way (ok, well, only in that it's more difficult to sleep). In fact, this is what all Seattle-ites live for (though there are a share of natives that almost detest the sun and long for the cloudy days of winter and the six daily shots of espresso). This is why most of us endure the domestic abuse of gloom from October to May.

These days, the sun that we have is transformative. It brings out a different Seattle. People seem friendlier. More willing to laugh. There are more people running, biking, kayaking, climbing. And all of those attractive people that mysteriously disappear to some exotic location after Labor Day get bussed back, under the cover of darkness, and make their debut appearance at Greenlake. I sometimes think that the population of Seattle doubles in the summer. Kind of the reverse of a college town (only there are three major universities in Seattle, so it's definitely not). It amazes me that, besides the beautiful people who are clearly bussed out, there are enough nooks and crannies in Seattle to store all of these people through the winter. Perhaps there are caves or unused Metro bus tunnels that I am unaware of. I wonder.

Anyway, today I only had three clients. A make-up call of sorts for my day yesterday. And well worth it. Totally sunny and high's in the 70's makes for the perfect Seattle day (believe it or not, Texans/Floridans/etc, at 75 degrees everyone here is in shorts and sandals. And shirts are optional.). So all afternoon I've just been outside, not really doing much at all. Oh, sure....I could have gone for a run. Or a ride. I could have worked on my laptop and done the 45 hours or more of business stuff I have to do. But instead, I just walked around. Such a treat.

I had a dream last night about Santa Cruz. Though I don't know if it was really Santa Cruz. At some point I also must have been in another country, because this tall blonde guy hollered out to me "Hey surfer!" (he was addressing me, but I'm not sure why he called me that) "Is it pretty easy for you to understand what we're saying?" (the assumption being that a) I was a native to this country in the dream, and b) the "we" meant he and other "Americans"). I just said "Yeah, I understand everything. I'm from Washington" and just kept walking.

Ahhhh...what dreams may come...

Enough for now, the sunlight beckons.