The Swedish Summer

Weather is talked about a lot here in this far north land where extremes are the norm.  All winter we wallow in darkness, holding out hope that the earth is indeed spinning on its axis so that one day the sun will reappear in all of its bold beauty and bring warmth and light to our land.  Well, at least it brings light.  But it is not always the case that it will bring warmth and this is one of those years when we are having a bad summer.
It was really quite strange or me to spend almost a month in my earthly paradise: Palm Springs, CA.  It was really something to wake up every day and see sunshine and feel heat.  I realized that over the past 14 years I have become rather neurotic about weather.  I find that on sunny, warm days in Stockholm, I almost get panicky, making sure I am spending enough time in the sunshine.  Maybe a lack of vitamin D makes you nutty in the head. After not thinking about whether or not the weather was going be good in CA, I realized that I spend a lot of energy thinking about weather, talking about weather, being frustrated or overjoyed by weather.  And I have absolutely zero influence over whether or not the weather is going to be good.  And truth be told, I would guess a full 60% of the time, the weather is lousy here.  So I have tried to turn over a new leaf and simply realize that whatever the day brings is what each day brings and if I have time to enjoy the sunshine, I will, but if I have to work on a sunny day, that does not mean I am doomed.  It has helped me feel a bit more sane even though we are having a terrible summer.
Case in point, 30 minutes ago a huge lightening, thunder and hail storm blew through town.  Scared the daylights out of me and Tanner.  Now it has passed.  But it was really coming down hard and the thunder claps were huge.
There seems to be a brightness in the sky that might lead to a beautiful evening.  If so, I will take a walk and enjoy it.  If not, I will stay in and enjoy that too.  I really am trying to not live by the weather.  But I suppose if I am honest, I will still utter a Teyve-like prayer but instead of saying "Lord, would it ruin some grand eternal plan if I were a wealthy man", mine would sound more like this: "Lord, would it ruin some grand eternal plan if I could have a healthy tan?"  At least it's light outside for most hours of the day right now.