5 minutes of summer

Winter sucks. By February I've become an unofficial meteorologist, checking the weather obsessively, studying record highs and average temperatures and the like. Just ask me what the predicted highs are for the next four days. At the first ray of warm spring sunshine I get that just-bungee-jumped-off-the-Golden-Gate-Bridge type rush of adrenaline and I could seriously tow the car at least 3 miles. Give me a candybar and I'll make it an even 4. I just want to sit on the grass and feel the sunshine and the joy oozing forth from the warm ground. So yes, I become a hippy. I hiper, cracked out, super enthusiastic hippy. Winter on the other hand, makes me want to sit in a dark room and write poetry about global warming and baby tears.

When winter hasn't completely broken my spirit, I rally and try and fight back. A few days ago I gave the winter blahs a serious kick in the pants. I went tanning. I know it sounds odd, I'm not looking for a bronzed glow(I don't even know if that is possible with my pasty skin), just the feeling you get when you sit in the sun. Think about it. You lean back, tilt your face towards the sky and just feel warm all over as the sun warms your bare skin. Wouldn't that be nice? Warm sunshine in Boston in February is a bit on the scant side, so I went to the only place I knew of that was replete with fake sunshine (and probably fake other things as well, but we won't go there). Since I'm, shall we say, pigment challenged, I could only stay under the lamps for 5 minutes. But oh, what a 5 minutes. My eyes closed, the sounds of Jack Johnson floating through the air, it was totally rejuvenating. I needed me some vitamin D. So for all those of you who are thusly have the winter blahs, make like a valley girl and get thee to a tanning bed for a few moments of delicious (albeit fake) summer time sun.