Sunny Days


 The first weekend I spent at the Poconos (way back at the end of August into early September) was wet.  It had rained both times that we had visited the house that we purchased and then it rained again on our first "official" weekend.  I thought we were doomed to be damp and wet.

I was wrong.  

I WAS glad I was wrong.  I mean, who doesn't want sunny days?  Perfect for hiking.  Perfect for Halloween parades.  Perfect for trick or treating.  Perfect to take remote work outdoors.  (Isn't that what laptops are for?)

And with only a few exceptions, it's been wonderfully warm.  I took a walk on Halloween wearing short sleeves.  On the first day of November I sat on the patio and worked soaking up the sun.  I love it.

But...

As much as I love blue skies and warm days, it's not right.  As Henry Wadsworth Longfellow reminds us:  "Into each life some rain must fall, some days must be dark and dreary."  We may not like it, but we DO need it.  We have just had the driest October on record.  Temperatures in the northeast have moved up to nearly 80.  Again, I may LIKE it, but this isn't right.

I can remember a November weekend  in 2015 (NJ Teacher's Convention weekend for those in "the know") where it was warm enough to go to the beach.   (This was only 3 years after Super Storm Sandy CRUSHED the  NJ shore.  A "rare" storm...but I wonder how frequenty a "rare" storm will hit beaches in the future). And my son and I did.  He dug and made sandcastles.  I put my toes in the water.  (It was cold.)  It was a beautiful weekend.  On our way home, we stopped at the outlet mall and in short sleeves my son stood next to Christmas decorations.  Again, I may have liked it, but it wasn't "normal" or right. It wasn't then and it isn't now either.

I don't like snow or ice in the winter.  (Unless it's Christmas/New Year's; that's the exception to the Bfth rule.)  But we are supposed to have snow and ice in the winter.  If we get it this winter (and I can't believe I'm saying it, but I hope we do), I will complain.  However, it is what we should expect.  Snow in winter, rain in the spring...It is what SHOULD happen.  

The sounds of Buffalo Springfield (which have nothing to do with weather, right?) teases my ear:  "There's something happening here, but what it is ain't exactly clear."  Climate change, is it clear?  It appears to me that something IS happening here.  So as much as I do like warm days with blue skies, it's time to stop, think about what is going on here and work TOGETHER (I know that's a hard thing to do) to do something about this "something."

We need to have warm sunny days.  We need to have wet days.  We need to have snow.  We need to have cold.  We need ALL seasons.  And we need this planet to be healthy if we want to live here.  (And if we want our children and grandchildren to do the same.)

So without being too preachy (too late right?), let's listen to Stephen Stills: "I think it's time we stop, Children, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down."  (Yes, I know this was a 60s protest song and not about climate, but...)  We need stop, listen (to our planet) because what's going down CAN'T be planet Earth.



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