Random Thoughts About Nice Weather

I kind of love it that every spring, D.C. goes straight from late-winter to full-on-summer without taking a breath. And every year, we all sound surprised that, once again, the city skipped spring. It happened again this past week, when suddenly the temperature was 70 degrees at 7 am and my dog can't even walk around the block without panting like he's in the middle of the desert.

Last week I was in Michigan and Pennsylvania, visiting both my family and my husband's family for Passover and Easter. Michigan was cold and rainy and dreary, and we all spent a lot of time inside wearing sweatshirts and slippers and grumbling about how Michigan has the unfortunate double whammy of both a crappy economy and a crappy climate. Then on the drive back East it was like being part of a time-lapse nature film, where spindly tree branches leaf out into brilliant green and the sky stays light until well after 8 pm. In other words, it was awesome.

And then this morning I was taking the dog out, hoping to get him to actually walk before the heat of the day set in, and idly wondering if this would be the summer we'd train him to use a litter box, since there's no way he's leaving the house if it's above 75. Then I looked around, and realized that the trees were in full bloom and the sun was struggling to cut through hazy clouds and the air already has that scent, the one that means summer, soft and heavy at the same time, promising warmth and threatening humidity. I'm way behind on my work after a week of travel and I'm staring down the barrel of multiple deadlines, but I just had to keep walking down the street, taking it all in for just one more minute.