Life On The 22: Rebranding Summer

Anyone who knows me, knows I’m not a summer lover. To be even more transparent, I get summer depression. I don’t like the heat. I don’t like sand / the beach. I don’t like being sweaty and gross when you are trying to be cute. I don’t like taking multiple showers a day. I don’t like traveling with a thousand children out of school. I don’t like when I can feel the sun radiating on me. I don’t like feeling like I’ll never get cool again. I don’t like when I feel a sweat drip slip down my back. You get the picture.

But summer is really important here in Chicago. The city transforms into a beach town. Festivals every weekend, farmers markets every day of the week, street seated cafes, outdoor concerts & movies, and pretty much anything you can do, they do it outside. Chicagoans LIVE in the summer. They have earned their stripes by surviving winter, they breathe in the heat. Northshore volleyball courts are full. Lincoln park looks more like Central Park in the movies. Montrose Beach is teeming every day with bumper-to-bumper traffic in the parking lot. Like cats, they lay across cement along the lake, basking in the sun.

So, despite having no stripes, I’m outside, in the heat. My friend Anna invited me to jump in the lake with her for the first time in early June. I bailed a couple of times, but finally, I was hot enough. And boy was the water COLD. I have no clue how people do cold plunges throughout the years, but I can do the summer. It’s refreshing. I love that there are spots along the lakefront to jump in from cement (though there is NO SWIMMING printed everywhere…) avoiding my least favorite texture: wet feet & sand. I’m so happy I jumped in.

I’m sweating on the bus. I’m sweating in the streets. I’m sweating at the lake. I’m sweating at weddings. I’m sweating on the train. I’m sweating in the coffee shops. Girl, I’m just sweating. I’m fighting the habit of hibernating when it hits over 83 degrees. I’ve purchased strapless tops and thin linen shorts. I pack my bikini every day in the bottom of my backpack JUST IN CASE I get near the lake. I’m calling summer, “Warm Season” in an attempt to manipulate my mind. Chicago's Warm Season is different than Memphis Summer. It gets cool at night. The water is COLD to swim in. There is too much to do to stay indoors. Everyone is sweating. There is a breeze. And most importantly, if you don’t take in the heat now, you won’t have anything to cherish as you survive post-Christmas winter. There is a reason this city takes summer seriously, and its because their winters are serious.

I’ve included some images that I think cover the basics of CHICAGO WARM SEASON from the last month.