So...first off, let me admit that, as I write this, I am a Man Under the Influence.
No, I’m not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or anything hip like that. I’m under the influence of SUNSHINE...plain, old, bright-shiny-orb-hanging-in-a-clear-blue-sky sunshine. After months and months of just the wettest, chilliest, I-can’t-stand-this-crap-anymore-est weather, the sun came out today...and our dear, sweet little town, not to mention our entire, deserving Puget Sound region SMILED. We grinned ear-to-ear. On a beautiful Fourth of July day, finally, we got SUMMER.
Oh how we smiled! We were, to a person, obnoxiously, deliriously, ridiculously high on life.
“Happy Fourth!!!” high school kids happily exclaimed to passersby (and you know how moody and sullen teenagers can be) as we adults walked to the parade. We wore our goofiest, star-spangled-banner-est outfits. We decorated our cars, ourselves, our pets. We strutted. We paraded. We celebrated Independence -- from the British, but particularly from the rainy monsoon season.
Our entire town, every giddy one of us, basked, raised our faces to the sun, and shouted “HEY MAN, GIVE ME SOME OF THAT BURN!!!”
We were ALL under the influence.
