Summertime

Summer has come to the city of Chicago once again!  Thank goodness!  I love Chicago, but if people who live here are honest we only put up with the winter months (the majority of the year) because the summer months redeem them.  When June hits it’s as if an awakening occurs.  Suddenly there are people outside, the lakefront is jammed, smiling faces walk-by… you get the idea.

The only problem is that this year not only did summer come late (seriously it did not warm up around here until the official start of summer– this past Sunday!) but it came with a vengeance.  The weather went from cold and rainy to sunny, muggy, and temperatures in the 90’s within a few hours.  And all of the sudden the normal “summertime” Chicagoan personality seems to have turned ugly.  The smiles and excitement about time outdoors has been replaced by complaints, attitude, and snide remarks about Global Warming (don’t you worry– I am not entering into that conversation in this posting).   Is it just me or are people now complaining about the warmth they asked for the past eight months?!

I know the message on weather may not apply to all, but I think the underlying principle does.  How often do I ask for things and then complain when they don’t meet my expectations?  How often do I allow my moods to effect the way I interact with others?  How often has someone’s smile or laughter brightened my day?  When I sit back and evaluate my attitude I quickly realize how much personal growth is needed.  This post might have been written selfishly– maybe you don’t need an attitude check the way I do today.  But I know that as I was melting on my walk to work (literally…I was beginning to feel like the Wicked Witch of the West in more ways than one!). Today I could have used a joke or a smile.   So my goal for the week: make at least 10 people smile a day.  It seems simple, but I am convinced that when I start looking outside of myself and start thinking about other people’s happiness that it will be contagious.  Maybe I will even have an entire city smiling.

People matter.