Spanglish Accent: S.A.D.

I feel like I have Seasonal Affective Disorder...but in reverse. SAD is supposed to hit you when the days start shortening and the weather turns a bit colder and you feel like you just want to hole up in your house, in front of the fire, and never move. Not that this is all bad. But the symptoms of SAD - overeating carbohydrates, sleeping too much, becoming lethargic - now those are not good. The experts attribute it to the shorter daylight hours and the cold weather and have found that the further you live from the equator, the worse it's affects can be. So why, when we are just coming out of all this "short days, dreary weather" am I feeling it now?

Perhaps it is because I have endured 2 winters back to back and it is just going to take me a bit longer to shake the doldrums that come from being shut inside for almost a year. We will have to see. But I wonder, why then, it didn't hit me during the beginning of my second fall in a row? In April, my body was just getting ready for the warm spring breezes and outdoor play and my kids were gearing up for pool season, and suddenly we moved to the South Pole. OK, not really, but we got pretty close. We went from blooming trees to dying leaves. From late afternoon park days to having play called due to darkness. Again.

And I think the majority of it, and why it has hit me so suddenly this week, is the fact that we are in the throes of the holiday season - in summer. In fact, just days before Christmas we will hit the Summer Solstice. It will be our longest day of the year. It will be very warm. And it will be very odd. And I think anyone who grew up north of the equator would agree with me. I have spent almost 40 years celebrating the Holidays (and yes, they do deserve to be capitalized - they are important) with the changing of the seasons...and with that I mean from fall to winter (not this Spring to Summer thing they have going on down here). Sweaters and boots signaled the start of the season - not bikinis and flip flops. Alas, it is 90 degrees here now and I am finding it a bit hard to get in the Christmas spirit. And I think this may be the root of my problems. I pulled out my Christmas decorations only to find it full of things that signify winter...A pair of ski's to hang upon my door. A flocked tree to put next to the entrance to my home. Snowmen and nutcrackers. Heavy velvet stockings. All things we associate with winter. And it is 90 degrees outside my door. One of these things is not like the others, One of these things does not belong...

So, as we are hitting our late Spring stride and skipping our way into the beautiful, smog free weather that is summer here in the Southern Hemisphere, I am a bit depressed. Not depressed, depressed. Just a bit, well, SAD. But it doesn't last long. Do you know why? How can you be sad when this is the joy that your children feel because it is summer in December? This type of joy- the drinking from the garden hose, splashing a bucket full of water over your sisters head, and romping with your dog in the backyard variety - is contagious. It just makes me a little less S.A.D.