A Reversal of Seasons

Reading all the other posts this week, I’ve realized I’ve got a very odd sense of spring since I’ve been living in Arizona for the past nine years. I grew up in Philadelphia, so everything the rest of the Novel Girls wrote about reminded me of the springs of my childhood. But since I’ve lived in Arizona, I’ve almost come to dread spring, because spring is the predecessor to summer, and summer is unbearably hot. But winter? I LOVE winter – 60 and 70 degree days, beautiful sunshine, cool nights.

This seasonal reversal took a little while getting used to. My birthday’s in the summer, and growing up, I always used to think of my birthday being in the nice time of year. I had parties outside, and I felt bad for people who had dreadfully cold winter birthdays. But since I’ve been living here, I’ve spent all my birthdays not wanting to be anywhere that didn’t have air-conditioning, and lots of it. My son, who has a winter birthday, always gets to have his parties outside, in the beautiful sunshine. He was born in Arizona, so I imagine, if, one day, he moves somewhere with normal seasons, he’ll find the concept of winter strange.

So I guess it’s sort of like this for me in the Arizona desert: summer is winter, spring is summer, and fall is spring. Fall is the time of year when we finally break out of the heat, when the outside world begins to seem like an inhabitable place again. Kinda like how most of the rest of you guys are feeling right now, coming off a long stretch of unbearable cold! Me? I’ve already had my air on for the last three weeks, and have started breaking out the shorts.