Last week, summer came in with a bang, literally.  Temperatures were well into the 90s and felt anywhere from 100 to 110: well above the normal for this time of year (hmmm, perhaps I should be a meteorologist).  Then, there were the rainstorms of Friday, which personally, I’m thankful for…and I didn’t get wet at all unless you count the back of my legs as I purposefully stood partially outside the door of my Laundromat, feeling in disbelief, the sudden coolness of the air.  In degrees, it only dropped about fifteen, but it felt as if it had dropped twenty-five instantaneously.  I’ve never seen temperatures drop so quickly.

To celebrate the beginning of summer, I took a much needed day off on Friday and frolicked to the beach with an old friend.  I left my house at the same time that I normally would for work, but instead of the lull of my usual bus/subway commute, I was breezing in the opposite direction with the windows rolled down and my friend behind the steering wheel.

We arrived just before 8:30 to a beach I hadn’t been to in years and, aside from the guy who was driving around checking the lifeguard towers, we were the only souls who had dared to step foot on the shore: the sky had been cloudy (I’d decided to chance it) and it was rather early to hit the beach unless one was staying somewhere in the Hamptons or Fire Island, where you could stumble out of bed and directly onto the beach.  After the routine of setting ourselves up, I walked to the shoreline and let the froth of the waves encompass my feet as I gazed out at the vast ocean before me and breathed in the beachy air.  The clouds from the morning had burned off and I was left with sun, sand and ocean.  More often than not, I take myself on a date to the beach; I joke that it is my therapy, but it really is.  I could be surrounded by people and yet the beach feels like it is there just for me.  I lay there for hours in my own savasana, and absorb the whole of it all.

It was a beautiful, sun-filled day, until right around 12:30, when the sky became covered with clouds.  Having the knowledge that it was supposed to storm, my friend and I slowly packed up our things and left.  It wasn’t until we were five minutes from home that the first downpour of the evening occurred: it was short-lived.  The second downpour (the one that drastically dropped the temperature) occurred after I had gotten to the laundromat and lasted well over a half hour.  My friend who owns the laundromat and I stood at the door (I stood just outside it) amazed at the speed and heaviness of the rain.  I stuck my arms out and felt the coolness of the rain falling on my skin.  I even attempted to capture the beauty of it on my phone, but sadly, rain does not photograph well.

After taking a shower, I settled onto my couch with a glass of wine and went to bed early.  Another good thing about spending the day at the beach is that I never have trouble sleeping that night :).