The Changing Wind

..."The Winds of Change" would've been better. Still, catchy title, right? Really draws you in...

I'm going to call it! Today, on the Somethingth of April in the year two-thousand and oh nine, Summer has come to the shores of Maine. Let us rejoice and be glad.

Studying this afternoon on my private beach (empty beach), the sun beat down on my tepid chest and stray nipple hairs as I flipped through last block's Bacteriology notes. After a half hour or so, a chilly breeze riffled through the pages and I looked up to find patchy clouds disrupting my otherwise even burn. I put on a shirt and blanketed my legs FDR style before flipping forward to more current notes and continuing.

The weather was still declining when I saw a line of dark clouds migrating in from the ocean. The temperature had already dropped from 85ish to low 70's, so I planned to head in whenever the shadows reached the shore. A few minutes later I checked again and the sky was the same: sunlight on one side; clouds on the other. A few minutes later: the same. What had once been two undulating currents of sky were now frozen in flight. Just hanging out.

Hmph.

I was getting tired of all this waiting. Had this been a cloudless July afternoon, I'd've been inside twenty minutes ago studying with Dr. Beam, but there's something about a sliver of springtime summer that makes you want to take in every photon. So I stayed. Waiting.

With a tinkling, the sand around me began to move. I looked up: The sky had changed. It seems the dark clouds had won the battle and were pushing on toward shore - a meteorological Normandy in the making. I began to gather my things when thwap! A river of hot air hit me square in the chest. Looking up, confused, the current swept my fedora away with it and sent me running. When I returned with my hat a few moments later, squinting against the wind, I realized my notes had been swept away as well. Awesome.

Collecting my my own personal brand of High-Maintenance, I flopped back down in my low-rider beach chair. Wondering. The dark clouds were moving fast now, overtaking the shore like a stampede and bringing with it this intense heat. Curious that a cloud-laden wind blowing in from the sea should be this warm...

Too windy to leave them on the beach, I brought my things inside and went back for a walk. It was glorious. The 90 degree wind was blowing harder than before, sandblasting my already inflamed skin and fighting my eyelids for sclera. I was standing at the crease between Hot and Cold fronts and, quite literally, reaping the whirlwind. It was fantastic.

As accomplished pre-frontal lobers, we're pretty good at predicting the future. We see the signs, pick the outcome that fits our experience, and watch the inevitable unfold.

Today was a nice reminder that dark clouds don't always bring with them the cold and wet.

Sometimes they bring Summer.