Suddenly, Summer

Suddenly, Summer.

After a week of gloomy rain (tropical style even, last night, thunder, lightning and all), summer.

Sunning.
Hanne Mari in a stunning yellow top.
And T's skateboard.

T's birthday yesterday was a perfect opening for today's summer air.
Last night was all happiness. I cleaned the house, cooked, and helped T prepare his birthday cake.
I tried baking it myself. It puffed. T sliced the top, so we still ended up with a decent, round, chocolate cake. T had to make the icing himself as I am totally helpless with these things.
Our guests came. There were seven of us in all.
The singing of the birthday song (in Norwegian) and the blowing of the candles unfolded before me like a scene from a melancholic movie, a 90s-style camera following the cake towards T.
I breathed it all in. It was your reality TV show without manipulated scenarios. It was perfect.
The night ended with us eating ice cream in the veranda, singing Norwegian folk songs while Hanne Mari strummed her guitar. Michael, who goes to the same music class as Hanne Mari, didn't sing along. He is a second generation immigrant. I didn't sing, either. But all the same, we all had a comfortable and happy glow - the anticipation of summer, ice cream in our hands, coffee, cigarettes, and the awareness of youth's greatness.

Today, I woke up late.
That kind of day after a previously perfect day.
You wake up, hungover from yesterday's greatness, hoping - no, praying that today will at least be beautiful enough to let you transition to the reality of the coming week's blandness easily.
Today, it did.

T woke me up with several phone messages from Hanne Mari. She was wondering if I wanted an afternoon in the beach.
I walked towards the beach in shorts and flat shoes, thinking, or humming without tune, Summer, Summer, Summer.
Hanne Mari dipped herself in the water twice.
I didn't. The water was still too cold for me, but the air was warm enough. Finally, the sun my legs need to get back to its darker, original color. I look so pale here. I don't like it.

This is it.
My third summer in Norway has arrived.