Summertime: The Season We Give Ourselves Permission to Let Go
From Hamburg graduation parties to Swedish midsummer to Fourth of July fireflies — why summertime unlocks a collective need to just let go of the routine.
Graduation Season in the Parks
The parks have been filled with graduation celebrations — during the day, the young ones finishing kindergarten, and in the evenings into the night, the older ones finishing high school (Abitur). A heat wave arrived in between the normal summer weather, which posed its own challenge. The young ones were enjoying the rapidly melting ice creams, fingers sticky and sweet. The teenage revelers enjoyed the late evening light, laughing, dancing to their music, and refusing to think about tomorrow. Watching them, I thought of the Kid Rock song “All Summer Long” — that suspended sense of time, enjoyed in a way only possible on the cusp of adulthood.
A World Cup Summer
We’re also in the middle of a World Cup Football summer, with national flags and public outdoor viewings across Germany. The atmosphere is contagious — fans sitting together, watching every move with tension and excitement. Germany is out, but the flags for other nations still fly, and the viewing parties carry on into the cooler weather after the heat wave. Much like the Olympics, it’s a season for celebrating affiliated countries and teams, win or lose. And, through such sporting events we connect the diaspora around the world and share a bit of our culture in the host country.
Fête de la Musique, Paris
Alongside the heat wave came news of summer solstice celebrations across Europe. I was especially glad to read about the energy of Paris’s Fête de la Musique — residents and revelers turning toward the music, less social media and more movement. During and after Corona, I often wondered if Gen Z was missing out on essential lived experiences of youth. Too much of their life was experienced virtually, made for short happy viewing pleasure. The kind of partying at such a festival that flows unexpectedly is mesmerizing. It reflects a collective mood and people syncing to the rhythm of music in real time. I remember the haze of heat and music at summer music festivals of my youth. Those are the nights when memories get made that no Instagram reel can capture.
Midsummer in Sweden
Photos and updates from family and friends celebrating Midsummer in Sweden have been filling my feed. The solstice celebrations there are nearly as big as Christmas — flowers everywhere, people in traditional dress dancing around a maypole, and the sun barely setting through the night. Old colleagues told me it also marks the start of the Swedish summer holiday season, when most people head to their summer cottages or boats. The whole of Sweden seems to be taking a collective pause, recharging themselves in the warmth and sun. What better way to kick-off the season than reveling in the longest day of the year.
Fourth of July, American-Style
This week brings the Fourth of July in the USA — parades, fireworks, barbecues. As a kid, I loved catching fireflies as they buzzed around at dusk. It was also the season with no end to watermelon, corn on the cob, and yellow summer squash. Weekdays meant the pool; weekends meant Fall Creek Falls State Park, where the water was just cool enough to make the heat bearable. On this national holiday, all of us from different ethnic backgrounds celebrated being American. As the nation prepares extravagant 250th anniversary celebrations, I am glad for that diversity.
The Common Thread
What strikes me most about this moment — across Europe and the US — is a collective need to release, to have fun, to set down the heaviness and seriousness of the world for a while. It’s a season to be human: to celebrate the senses and emotions of being human.
I’ll close with Kid Rock:
“Now nothing seems as strange as when the leaves began to change, Or how we thought those days would never end.”
What’s your version of summer abandon? Drop a comment or find me on a park bench — that’s where the best stories start.