The Lovely Ordinary

“It’s June, why is it still 55 degrees outside?”

This was my first thought when I checked the weather before walking the dogs one morning.

Maybe it’s just my inner Floridian coming out. I see neighbors outside in shorts and t-shirts while I’m bundled up in a sweatshirt. They probably think I’m the crazy one!

Summers in the Midwest just hit different. Having grown up in Florida, then moved to Tennessee, then Indiana, I can say I have experienced all kinds of summers.

In Florida, it is hot, humid, and thunderstorms would roll in, pour rain for twenty minutes before disappearing into clear skies again like nothing ever happened. Summer is also hurricane season so on top of the regular thunderstorms, you have to be prepared for the occasional hurricane.

That doesn’t mean we didn’t have plenty of fun in the summer. On the contrary! We still had beach days, weekends on the lake, and trips to the crystal clear springs. We would spend plenty of days at Disney World.  Ironically, the best time to visit Disney World was during a tropical storm. No wait times, no crowds, if you didn’t mind getting a little wet, it was well worth it!

When we moved to Tennessee, summer still felt familiar. It was still hot and humid, and still had the occasional summer thunderstorm. But instead of beaches, there were rivers to float in and the Smoky Mountains to hike. Although spring was really the rainy season, with the occasional tornado, summer still felt like, well, summer.

Now I live in Indiana, and so far there has been a huge difference in the summers here. We arrived in early May, so we caught the end of spring and are currently at the beginnings of summer. I expected the warm weather to arrive with the start of the summer months. Instead, I find myself still wearing a hoodie in the middle of June!

The summer solstice was just two days ago, yet I was still walking the dogs in temperatures that would have been considered winter weather in Florida. In the two months that we have been here, I don’t think it has gotten over 75 degrees yet. And there are still plenty of storms, but the tornado warnings seem much more common than what I was used to.

Don’t get me wrong, there is something nice about not feeling like you’re walking into a sauna every time you open the front door. I don’t miss the 95 degree days with a heat index over 100. But it is summer! I expected it to be hot.  

To me, summer has always meant sundresses, overalls, flip-flops, and staying outside until sunset. Instead, I am still reaching for a sweatshirt for my morning walks with the dogs.

My dogs, however, have definitely adjusted a lot faster than I have. Our German Shepherd/Husky mix is built for cold weather. I can tell that he enjoys being outside more, he lingers on our walks, sniffing every blade of grass. Our pit mix, on the other hand, has a very different opinion. He tolerates the weather, but he is more of an indoor a/c kind of dog. Regardless of the weather, he would much rather be stretched out on the couch with the air on.  

Another adjustment I wasn’t prepared for was the amount of daylight.

Back in Florida, I was used to it getting dark around 8 o’clock in the summer. Here, the sun seems determined to stay out until 9:30pm! It’s really thrown off my internal clock and most days I have no idea how late it actually is.

Living in different places has made me realize how easy it is to assume our own experiences are “normal.” Growing up, I thought everyone’s summers looked like mine. Hot afternoons. Afternoon thunderstorms. Beach trips whenever you could squeeze them in. It never occurred to me that just a few states away, summer could feel completely different.

Even though I only moved a few states, the seasons have an entirely different feeling. It’s interesting how moving somewhere new gives you a whole new perspective. It makes me wonder if maybe I took for granted those hot summer days at the beach. Or maybe I should appreciate the cool summers in Indiana more.

But life moves in chapters, and this is simply the next one. I feel lucky to have lived in such different places and experienced each one in its own way.

Florida taught me to love the ocean. Tennessee taught me to appreciate the mountains. Maybe Indiana is teaching me that every place has its own version of summer, and you just have to learn how to enjoy the one you’re in.

Of course, about a week after I wrote this, Indiana decided to prove me wrong. The temperatures climbed into the 90s, and suddenly summer felt a lot more familiar. Apparently, the Midwest heard me complaining!

I guess that’s the thing about moving somewhere new. Just when you think you’ve figured a place out, it reminds you that you haven’t – not yet.