I miss outside

I’m gonna be a grump.

Our air quality is terrible right now due to smoke from the wildfires in Canada.

When this happened with New York City and the Eastern Seaboard earlier this summer, I found myself thinking about how foolish we are to ever consider that borders are real. What we do, experience, and neglect to do impacts every living thing. Some people and animals are much more impacted, but I’ll share that this time, I, too, am among the impacted. I’ve had a migraine for days.

But I’m really feeling this: I miss outside.

This situation has reminded me (not that I didn’t already know!) that I just plum love outside. So much. It’s part of who I am, and receive a lot of daily joy and delight from that. This has only lasted three days, but it might be five or six? And then, will this happen again later throughout the summer?

I just want to name that when you live in a cold climate, summer is perfection, and I don’t want to be cheated of it. Geez, summer is a delight! I need this time, alongside others.

So that’s me being a grump. I guess I’ll go eat worms.

–Renee Roederer