Do you notice there’s spring in your step? Do people smile at you more? Are you enjoying an inexplicable sense of optimism?
Thank the weather.
March is not typically when our region enjoys temperatures flirting with the seventies. But whether it’s some permutation of seasonal winds or the inexorable progress of climate change, that’s what’s been happening. And it has a very pleasant effect on people.
Our weekly shopping trip was punctuated by cheery greetings from people we almost know. The conversations all had the same theme.
“How about this weather?”
“Incredible, isn’t it?”
“I couldn’t’ help it. I had to break out my tee shirt/skirt/shorts/sandals and celebrate!”
“Don’t you just feel happier?”
“I do!”
“I know. Weird, huh?”
“We should get together some time (or soon or more often)!”
The guy behind the deli counter was telling anyone who would listen his plans for his garden.
“So I’m working on my deer fence, and this year I want to try pumpkins!”
The bank teller was grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
“I was just out there on my lunch break. I think I’ll get my bike out of the shed after work!”
I found myself rolling up my yoga pants on my daily walk, allowing my sickly white calves to soak up the sunlight. Three cars swerved into the ditch, their drivers blinded by the glare. They weren’t even angry.
“Beautiful day, huh!”
Sure, UV rays contribute to skin cancer. Glare is bad for your eyesight. Solar flares can shut down the power grid.
I do not care.
Sunlight is nature’s little endorphin-jumper. And man, we could all use a few endorphins these days. Sunlight revs up the immune system. It is the essential ingredient in helping the body produce vitamin D. Vitamin D is good for your bones and might even help you live longer.
Sunlight repels those gray, grim little demons that accumulate in the dark corners of your mind even in the mildest of winters. The wee beasts feed off pessimism and latch onto any minor setback, masterfully blowing it out of all proportion.
Sunlight blasts through their distortions.
Sunlight lies, too. But they are benign lies of hope, of possibility, of good news on its way. And if the good news never comes, at least it was a sunny day.
Join the family! 
