“Daedalus fashioned two pairs of wings out of wax and feathers for himself and his son. Before they took off from the island, Daedalus warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, nor too close to the sea. Overcome by the giddiness that flying lent him, Icarus soared through the sky curiously, but in the process he came too close to the sun, which melted the wax. Icarus kept flapping his wings but soon realized that he had no feathers left and that he was only flapping his bare arms.”—the story of Icarus as told in Wikipedia

Summer started this week. On June 20th at 10:45 pm, we left the new-beginnings season of spring and entered the long-days, abundant-light, and easy-living season of summer. On the first day of summer, also known as summer solstice or midsummer’s day, we can enjoy the longest day of the year when we have more sunlight hours than on any of the other 364 days of the year.

Each day after this first day of summer, we will have fewer minutes of sunlight than we had the previous day. This will continue until we reach the first day of winter (winter solstice, usually December 21). The first day of winter is the shortest and, therefore, darkest day of the year. So even in the full light of that first summer’s day, we were entering “The true beginning of our end” (William Shakespeare, A Midsummer’s Night Dream).

For a while, we thought that we had found the formula for an endless summer. At least we did when it came to our economy. But everything has it’s time and place. Summer has no depth of meaning without the fall, winter and spring. Each of these seasons has their own worth that must be respected. And like Icarus flying to close to the sun, we found that any attempt at achieving an endless summer must be paid for eventually.

So our endless summer is gone, but that is OK. Summer is here, and that is enough. Enjoy!

THEATRICAL RELEASE POSTER IMAGE COURTESY WIKIPEDIA