So far, the theme of this summer has been cold. Part of this I expected; after all, I did travel to Iceland. I was expecting the cold there, but I wasn’t expecting to participate in the coldest summer in thirty years. When I finally arrived back in the United States, I was expecting the warmer weather that is normally associated with this time of year, but I landed in the Pacific Northwest which was experiencing the wettest and coolest summer they have had in recent history. I was walking around in jeans and hoodies for the week that I was there, hoping that some day I would be able to switch over to shorts and spend some time at the pool. I finally got fed up with all of it, and decided to hop on a plane and fly down to Tucson, Arizona where I knew that I would find some sun.
So I might have misled you. The trip was not as spontaneous as I made it seem. It was part of the greater plan this summer as I hop all over the place. Two friends of mine were retying the knot, literally because they are both rock climbers and they made it part of the ceremony, because they had gotten married during Covid lockdown, and they wanted to have a more traditional ceremony with their friends. Of course I went down there to participate in this celebration. I would add pictures of the event because it was a big reunion with a bunch of people I used to work with in South Korea, but due to privacy reasons, I have decided to not share them with you.
That still does not mean that flying down to Arizona is not what I needed this summer. This time of the year is a thawing period for teachers and students alike, and I had not had those moments where I could let the sun do its work. Yes, it was extremely hot down there like you would expect from Arizona during this time of the year, but instead of running to air-conditioning to stay comfortable, because of my recent experiences with the weather, I embraced the heat.
A lot of my time down there was spent attending wedding events, so I do not have a lot to talk about outside of those moments, but I did have some time to wander around the University of Arizona campus and the area surrounding it. I have always found it strange to be on a college campus during the summer months because they do not have the energy that you can find during the school year. It is a beautiful campus though, and if I was ever going to make a movie about an evil dean that is not giving a group of misguided youth their fair shake, I would think about filming it here during the summer. Otherwise, I got to enjoy the great restaurants around the campus, and got that much needed vitamin D for the first time this summer. It made me feel that slower pace I have been looking for all summer, and it was great.
I know that it was a quick trip, and I was able to bring some of that sun back with me to Oregon, and they are starting to experience the same type of summer that I have been looking for as well. I hope that you are getting the same kind of summer as well, and it is allowing you to shed the problems and worries that we collect during the colder months out of the year, and you are allowed to go out and enjoy the outdoors a little more right now. Maybe what all of us need is a couple of days down in Tucson to get that feeling going for each of us. I know it was what got me in the summer mood for this first time this year.
John Collings 