Celebrating the Summer Solstice

Celebrate life! Yeah. I guess it's been 8 years now that I've let my heart out to play. Prior to that I was a member of the Eastcoast rat race, busy being socially correct, polite, sedate, respectful. The only time I could let loose was on vacation, and even then hubby was along, so letting loose wasn't approved of. 

Now I make a point of doing something from the heart....often deemed a bit odd, if not crazy....on special dates....and just for my own happiness. The solstice and the equinox qualify as special dates. Since I'm of Gaelic and Germanic background, I suspect those dates where noted in some fashion by most of my long ago ancestors. So that sounds like a good enough excuse to me to celebrate those dates too. 

Celebration for me is highly personal. It's a breaking away from my social chains and mores. But done in private. I don't intend to offend anyone nor force my silliness onto others. At least not yet. 

Of course by now you're wondering just how silly have I been getting. Do I paint myself blue and yell like a banshee? Oooo, not to date but it sounds like something I could try in the future. I did have a notion to dye my hair green and pink with some of the Halloween hair coloring, but the bottles still sit unopened in the bathroom. 

One time I striped the rose flowers of their petals, then while tossing petals into the air as high as I could, I twilled about the front yard on my toes, twirling until I was totally dizzy.  One night I laid on my back in the grass and sang a made up welcoming song to the stars. Then there's the time I bared not just my soul but my chest to the brilliant sun, welcoming the day. I've danced a wild spontaneous dance until exhausted. The time I sat cross legged on the ground contemplating the intricacies of a flower, my legs refused to unbend and support my weight without a warm up period. I almost didn't make it back up off the ground. 

One spring equinox there was a lot of bee activity in the garden, so I smeared my hands with honey and encouraged bees to suck it up. Before long my hands had dozens of bees robbing free honey. It turned out to be a magical hour watching them come and go, having them walking all over my hands and arms. I'll not forget that one for a long time. 

I've danced, sung songs, climbed and sat in a tree, laid in a lava tube listening to my heart beat. I've sat at the end of South Point, listening to the ocean, feeling the wind, and contemplating the sand until I felt that I belonged in some way with Nature. I climbed a hill in the Kahuku Ranch pastures then somersaulted and rolled all the way down through the thick overgrown grass. 

One time I wore my clothes backwards, another time I wore them inside out. Just silly fun. 

For this summer solstice I opted to bare myself to Mother Nature and garden (around the privacy of my house) in the nude. The sun and breeze felt great. But alas........I spent a tad too much time. Thankfully hubby didn't make a big deal of it when I asked him to rub some noxema cream onto my overly pinked butt. ......You know what burns my butt? Exposing it to the sun too long as a form of celebrating the first day of summer! 

Go to England and you'll see some pretty crazy stuff going on at Stonehenge on the summer solstice. Well, I'm not THAT crazy yet.       ;)