[sunnykerr]

There's another wildfire raging in Manitoba at the moment.

It's also threatening some cities, but they're smaller and not at all related to any significant industry.

So you're unlikely to hear about that on the news.

I'm just saying, forest fires happen all the time is summer here.

The last one was, granted, larger than normal.

But it only made the news because Fort McMurray's an oil city, which means it's got a larger population than most cities "up North".

[There You'll Be]

Yeah, unfortunately that's the way the news works.

It's a shame.

Yeah, we have lots of forest fires we don't hear about here, too.

And some big ones.

Especially with all the dry, record breaking heat we have now.

I imagine it's just like that up there.

[sunnykerr]

You're right.

It's been a very dry summer so far and that contributes to the wildfires we get.

Of course, every year, it must be a dry summer, because we get them every year.

And, on top of that, the stuff that makes the news has to be "big," so there's a lot we never hear about.

[There You'll Be]

So do we.

True, there is a lot I know we don't hear about.

[sunnykerr]

It's the same every year.

Every year, they tell us we'll have a record-breakingly hot summer.

And, every year, we get tons of forest fires that prove we're getting massive heat.

But, every year, we also get loads of cloudy and rainstormy days, too.

So, every year, you get the sun worshippers whining about how "this summer sucks."

[There You'll Be]

Well, when it comes to weather, it's all perspective.

If people hate heat, it's too hot.

If people hate gray and rainy it's too gray and rainy.

[sunnykerr]

Oh, you're right, of course.

It just feels like sun worshippers aren't happy unless the sun is out all day, every day, for the whole three months of summer.

Like, if there are clouds in the sky, that's not a summer day.

And, you know, there's a lot more of them than there is of me, so I just have to grin and bear it, I guess.

But I actually like clouds.

[There You'll Be]

I agree, that's really true about sun worshipers.

I think I'm that way. When it rains I'm like "It's summer! What's going on?"

Yeah, clouds can be good too.

I like cloudy days, especially now that I'm not in the sun trying to get a tan.

[sunnykerr]

Ah, yes, the eternal pursuit of a tan.

Sometimes I think I must be some sort of actual alien.

I don't tan. I mean, I either burn or I say translucent and pasty.

But pretty much everyone I know is like you.

They want a tan.

I don't love being caught in the rain, mind you.

But I would rather it rain a little here and there.

Just so that we can avoid flooding and/or fires.

[There You'll Be]

I think that's a great way to put it.

I think, also ,you may be right.

Yeah, I think I feel the same way.

And some days gray and rainy suit my mood.

[sunnykerr]

I come from a whole family of people for whom having a tan seems to be an endless pursuit.

Mostly my aunts and mother.

But I just remember feeling a lot of pressure, when I was younger, to get myself a tan.

You know, when I was younger, we used to go to the beach for about a week every summer.

And one of my main memories about those trips is that my aunt and mother would try to get me to take walks, to suntan... anything.

But, even as a child, I would just want to sit under a beach umbrella, with a towel over my legs, reading a book.

[There You'll Be]

My mother, too.

We lived at the pool in the summer, as kids, and she lay out with her friends.

At the community pool.

That had to be hard on you.

Did they make you somewhat feel like there was something wrong with you?

I don't blame you for that.

I think we're kind of born with how we relate to things, like even the sun.

[sunnykerr]

They never talked to me like I was some sort of extra-terrestrial.

I think they must have commented a little on how odd it was to them.

And I don't know a single adult who didn't try to get me to move a little more when I was a kid.

But not in a bad way.

Just in the way that most parents (whether they're your parents or someone else's parents) will automatically try to find activities for the kids around them.

So it was clear that I was a little odd to them, but not in a way that implied it was wrong.

But, in a way, you can see their side of it as well.

"We travelled all this way to get to the beach and you just want to do what you'd be doing if we'd stayed at home?"

Seems like a fair observation to me.

[There You'll Be]

Ah, I was a tomboy and always running around and doing stuff.

Okay, that's what I was curious about.

If they made you feel out of place, or different, in a not fun way.

Well, it's not really fair, to me.

I think vacation, or any time, is to spend it in the way that makes us happy-even as children.

[sunnykerr]

In my life, we didn't get to have an opinion about how we spent vacations when we were kids.

I mean, my brother might have enjoyed a teeny bit more freedom by virtue of being more into sports and not having childhood illnesses.

He could have a different opinion, if you asked him.

But he did want to do physical activities.

I did not.

For the period I grew up in, getting kids to move was seen as what you had to do to have healthy kids.

So while they would always have prefered that I be more active, it was clearly coming from a place of love.