Summer

What is summer? This one in particular has involved such a focus on professional development, networking, and gaining knowledge on serious environmental policy issues. My thirst for knowledge leads me to daily experiences concerning areas of knowledge from food distribution to sustainable business theory. Whether I am socializing with colleagues, in the office reading an article, or planning to attend (and attending) events on Climate Change (with Todd Stern on Wendesday), poverty, Fair Trade (round table on Thursday), etc... I feel like a lot of the joy of summer can easily be overlooked. It is not as if one must separate "work" from "play", but that the "work" can often make us jaded, cold, and lonely. 

What I have realized, after a relaxing weekend with Dana, is that summer is about calming the mind and enjoying a peaceful time of the year. It is not necessarily the hustle and bustle of a DC professional internship that is making this summer so enjoyable for me. It is rather the time taken to enjoy beautiful weather with beautiful people, talk at length on the phone for no particular reason, and simply play outside. What I am trying to say is best surmized by an excerpt from today's Washingtonian:

"How I Spent My Summer Vacation" is an essay permanently etched in our minds. Perhaps the color of the cottage was blue, not gray, and it was Uncle Frank, not Al, who wore the lobster-patterned trunks, but the recollections that matter are as fresh as a blackberry picked straight off the bush.

As we excitedly welcome June, and all of its anticipated pleasures and joys, we can't help but think of the past. When we were small and free, enjoying the warmest weeks of the year with our beloved yet nutty families, all four or 10 of us crammed into a mountainside cabin, beachfront bungalow or VW camper. When the biggest decision was vanilla or strawberry ice cream, swim or build sand castles, Mom or Dad's lap. When the smallest experiences led to such bliss that, decades later, we still pause to relive that moment, then return to reality with a secret smile on our lips.

-- Andrea Sachs