Sunflowers and Vitamin D

A vase full of Frisbee-sized sunflowers stares at me from my dresser. Every time I look up from my computer screen their yellow petals make me smile. If Meg Ryan’s character in You’ve Got Mail is right and daisies are the “friendliest flower,” then I’m certain that sunflowers are the cheeriest. Dozens of other people at today’s farmer’s market seemed to think so, too, as we were all moseying about with these audacious yellow flowers exploding from our grips. The thing is, the sunflowers were worth every penny that I paid for them (which wasn’t much, actually), because they made me smile every time I returned to my apartment today. And that means an awful lot right now.

Sunflowers encapsulate summer, and today was one of the most beautiful summer days Chicago's seen thus far in our disappointingly cool and wet season. It was a perfect day for being outdoors and it seemed as though everyone was relishing it. I finally made it to the free summer workouts offered at Millennium Park this morning. It was delicious to feel the sun on my muscles and to stare up at the clear blue sky from the comfort my Pilates mat in the grass.

After an hour of reminding my abs what crunches feel like and challenging my flexibility, I found myself forced into the crowd of overzealous, visiting Reds and Cubs fans infiltrating the El. I couldn’t help but feel impatient as they stopped up the turnstiles while trying to figure out how to use their newly-purchased CTA cards and then held up the train as they all tried to cram into the last five cars. I felt relief when I emerged from the subway at Clark and Division, and saw the farmer’s market spread out before me. The last time I'd made it to the market, it was raining quite steadily, and the vendors were protecting their wares from the wind as the handful of browsers dodged puddles and tried to make purchases quickly. Today, it was packed and the pace was leisurely. Imagine shoulder-to-shoulder pedestrian traffic, dotted with giant yellow flowers (I’m not exaggerating the prevalence of the sunflowers). I tend to get a little claustrophobic in crowds, but I enjoyed the fact that so many people were taking advantage of the morning.

Afterward, I paused at the apartment to shower and have a slice of the watermelon I’d just purchased, then headed for the beach. I’m not going to lie—I really relish going to the beach, and I usually go alone. For me it’s not so much about getting a tan (although that's part of it), but about contemplation and writing time (I’ve gotten in the habit of throwing a notebook into my beach bag). Sometimes I don’t get inspired at all. Sometimes I do. Today, not so much: just a few fruitless scribbles. For awhile, I just listened to music and watched the clouds interweave like silky strands of cigarette smoke across the sky. As I laid there, I started to feel rejuvenated. All that Vitamin D just sunk right down into me. And judging by all the people I saw out, I wasn’t the only one who really needed a Saturday like today. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed for lots more of these before the season’s over.