midsummer

Today is the longest day of the year. The shortest night. The start of summer. It’s a day to celebrate and to enjoy. A day to relax and welcome new and old (things, people, everything) into your life.

I am a welcoming person. A bit curious too. I like doing research and learning new things because I believe that knowledge is power. But power is not important. Being educated to one’s own abilities is. Moving forward, never standing still.

I mentioned my curious nature. It extends to the blog and its stats too. Now, I am not hung up on numbers, but I am curious about countries and cities, about referrers and most read posts. Some countries are easily related to this or that reader, even moreso if they like a post. (I am not mentioning comments, because they are very sparse, I am okay with that. Just seeing that my words, the ones I put together to create sentences made someone read or even like a post makes me happy. Even after all these years it does.

What I meant to say is this: I see you. And I welcome you into my world. There is no need to hide.

You see, the moment you get to know more of me you will notice that I am a caring person. I am not a people pleaser anymore. But I care deeply about the people in my life. If you visit this place and read words that resonate with you, with your story, with people in your life – know that most of what I write is fictitious. I am easily inspired but not easily influenced or manipulated. If you know me better you know that I am made of contradictions. I am warm but distant, cold but close.

Maybe that’s what midsummer is really about… A dance between light and shadow. Just like me. I often walk a fine line between serenity and anxiety. But like the longest day, I don’t cancel the night, I just hold it off a little longer. Just like we all do, sometimes, when we want to hold on to joy, clarity, or the warmth of something fleeting but meaningful.

I often think of these solstices, both summer and winter, as mirrors. One reflects fullness, the other emptiness. But both carry truth. And again, I relate to that, because sometimes I am full of love and sometimes I am devoid of it. The summer solstice is a reminder to let light in. Into your rooms. Into your mind. Into the spaces you keep hidden. Into the words you read when no one is watching. Into the ones you write and never send.

If you are here, it means something in these words found you. Maybe it was a sentence. Maybe it was silence between two lines. Maybe it was recognition. Or curiosity. Or boredom that led you here. It doesn’t matter. You are here. And I like that. A lot.

So yes, today the sun lingers. The light stays just a bit longer. Take it as an invitation. To linger too. To stay just a bit longer. With yourself. With others. With me. With whatever moves you. You’re welcome here.

As for me, I will sit outside and watch the sun go down later, I will light some candles and enjoy the stars shining down on me when the sun went to sleep. It is the little things that matter most these days: afternoons spent in the pool with the teenagers, music that is stirring things in me. Having a drink and watching the sunset and the starrise.

So here’s to light that lingers and shadows that soften. To the quiet joy of midsummer. To noticing… and being noticed.

Cathy