Giving Summer Thanks

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve surely heard that the Polar Vortex is back in the middle of the nation this week, bringing cooler temperatures with its breezes.  In my corner of New Jersey, mid to late July is typically the hottest part of summer, usually with a generous side of humidity to go with the heat.  Instead, this week, we’ve instead gotten dry warm air, high temperatures in the mid to low 80s and cool nights and mornings.  It’s been lovely and it puts me in mind of the January cold snap that the Polar Vortex delivered earlier this year.

There were many icy mornings in January that I sat in my car, waiting for it to warm up, bundled up in coat, gloves, scarf, hat, and still cold for all my efforts to block the cold.  On those mornings, the temperature outside was barely in the double digits.  As I grew weary of the cold this past winter it was hard to envision summer and the ease of stepping outside in flip flops.  But the winter did eventually pass.  So today I pause and give thanks for warm breezes and sunlight.  I may even be prepared to take back the unkind comments I once made about the Polar Vortex.