Summer Breezes

by Cylithria Dubois

Summer is in and of itself a time of independence. Baby critters of all sorts are learning to be independent of their parents. Trees, plants and bushes are all busy growing their roots firmly into the soil so they can live on independently in this world. And people all around the world tend to feel more independent during the summer months. For some reason, there is a feeling of freedom attached to the summer that brings out the best in everyone.

During the summer, children are free from the confines of school. Their curious and energetic nature takes them out of doors where they play, explore and create merriment for themselves. Adults of all ages take vacations at this time of year. It doesn't matter if the vacation time is spent staying at home working on domestic tasks or if it takes you to places with fantastical plans, the vacation itself is a form of independence from all things adults consider restraining. For whatever reason, it would appear that it is summer and its very nature that brings out the independence in all of us.

I got to thinking about the reasons why summer seems to be a time of independence. Obviously it's hard in the winter to feel independent when the cold blustery days seem to dictate everything we eat, wear, and do. In the fall we are busy preparing ourselves for winter's onslaught. We hustle and bustle around, getting rid of our summer clothing for the more constrictive gear of winter's chill. In the spring we busy ourselves with packing away winter's constraints and bring out the once-again cherished items needed for our summer plans.

For all the small reasons summer seems to be the time of independence, I realized that it can also be just as confining as liberating. For those of us who live in hot, humid climates, we know how hard it is to enjoy the summer through the drippy, sticky heat. Our desire to be cool enough to move and breathe keeps us confined in areas where climate control is used. The summer dictates what clothing we wear and what we do just as much as any other time of the year, and yet we still feel more independent during summer months. Why is that?

Perhaps we don't truly appreciate the power lent to us by the sun beating down on our skin, its warmth and strength slowly urging us forward. Perhaps it is the stark contrast of the heat of the day with the coolness of the summer nights that drives us onward. Could it be that the bright blue in the sky and the brilliant rays of the summer sun have ingrained in us the sense of independence?

I don't know.

What I do know is that recently this summer I went camping. Out in the forest that I love so much, I thought about my column here at Mosaic Minds and about what a Joyful Girl would say with regards to independence. At least I tried to think of what a joyful girl might say. The sound of the crickets happily chirping away often interrupted my thoughts, as did the whirling waters of the nearby river. The giggles of little girls discovering that black squirrels love pretzels drew me from my ideas about independence. The laughter of nearby adults as they gathered around campfires distracted my thoughts of how important independence is to people. The fresh air tantalized my senses and often sent me into slumber faster than normal, which meant I wasn't thinking at all.

I tried to soak in the nature around me and allow it to inspire and spur on my column this month. I tried to let it work its magic, but then the wind began whishing through the trees. That's when it struck me, maybe it isn't the summer season that embodies independence so much as it is that independence is like the summer breezes we all know and love.

During the fall, the wind whipping through trees often means more work for us. Whether it's leaves to rake, downed limbs to collect, wood to gather or harvests to bring in, that fall wind means work, and a lot of it. In the winter the winds are cold and biting and seem to suck the life from us as we await any sign of spring. The spring winds bring with them the harsh and much-needed rains, rains that once again signal it's time to work cleaning up the effects of winter and bringing forth the season of birth. But the summer winds, they blow lazily through and they are the winds we often sit and enjoy.

In our lives we go through a symbolic seasonal change as we work towards independence. We learn as children to gather up the fruits of our labor, just like workers gather harvest during the fall. We learn to store and to live from those fruits during the hard winter months. And part of our childhood is like the spring where we learn to plant our newly-formed seeds of knowledge in order for our spirits to grow. The results of these seasonal learning sessions end up giving us a moment in life where we sit and enjoy who we are and what we've done ... just like we enjoy a summer breeze.

I'm not so sure how a person goes about becoming independent. I can't give you a blueprint that would show you how to construct your independence. But I'd bet that if you sit down near a shady tree to watch, listen and feel the summer breezes as they whisk by you, you’ll feel independence in its finest form -- free, swift-moving and with a purpose, just like the summer breezes themselves.