It's been indifferently cold. Strangest Fall/Winter/Spring I've yet seen here. Very little change between the weather mid October, December, or May. 40s-50s. For six months running. Not a lot of rain, but not a lot of sun either. The days just seem undecided.
The Solstice Parade was supposed to be the announcement, the thank you, the bring it on for Summer. Revel in the warmth of the Sun God and the turning of the seasons. Go forth and procreate and frolic and dance, watch the trees and the flowers emerge from their slumber and reach towards the sky to once again drink in the heat of life.
Except we were all huddled together in our fall coats, umbrellas at the ready, in the middle of June. We watched those poor naked bodypainted bicyclists shiver down the road. Even that creepy old guy, who comes out without fail every year to dangle his bits and shake his warted body in front of strangers, was this year covered up. He gamely tried to frolic, but seemed to know it just looked silly without the dangling bits. We were all going through the motions, but resigned to the grey fate of a strangely dreary season without end.
And then she danced.
Like the sun breaking through a late dawn fog, she emerged from the grey and lit up the street. The haze melted away and revealed light and mirth, and we found within each of us our own personal solstice. We began to glow like her, radiating warmth and energy and the promise of renewal and life.
Then the old guy stripped down to his warty dangly bits, and the Summer was officially begun.