All Summer in a Day

Today was one of those glorious days that renews your hope and restores your faith in the progress of seasons. After a long, tedious, bitterly cold winter, we had a day filled with Summer-like temperatures, lots of sunshine and a gentle breeze. It made me think of a short story I read when I was in sixth grade. It's by Ray Bradbury and was about children living on a planet that had no sunshine.

Here's the not-so-brief Wikipedia version:

"All Summer in a Day" is a short story by science fiction author Ray Bradbury. This story was originally published in the March 1954 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

The story is about a class of school children on Venus, which in this tale is a jungle world of constant torrential rainstorms, where the sun is only visible for two hours every seven years. Such an occurrence is imminent.

One of the children, Margot, had moved to Venus from Earth five years before the story takes place, and she is the only one in her class to remember sunshine. She has become frail and miserable on Venus, and almost has a nervous breakdown from the anxiety of living with the relentless rain. "[Once], a month ago, she had refused to shower in the school shower rooms, had clutched her hands to her ears and over her head, screaming the water mustn't touch her head."

Margot writes a poem about the sun:
"I think the sun is a flower,
That blooms for just one hour."

She also describes the sun as "a penny", or "like a fire in the stove".

In her misery, Margot will not play with the other children, and they bully her for her separateness and refuse to believe her memories of the sun. As the sun's predicted appearance draws near, while the teacher is out of the classroom, William, the student who most often torments Margot for being a quiet outcast, convinces the other children to lock Margot in the closet. They ignore her cries and pleas; her beating against the closet door begging to be let out.

As the sun is about to appear, the teacher arrives to take the class outside to enjoy their two hours of sunshine. In their astonishment and joy, they all forget about Margot. They run and play, skip jump and prance about, savoring every second of their newly found freedom.

All at once, a girl feels a raindrop in her hand, and with the sad realization that the rain is returning, all the children start to cry. Thunder sounds, and the children run back inside. Suddenly, one of the children remembers Margot, still locked in the closet. They stand frozen with shame for what they have done, unable to "meet each other's glances." The precious sun has come and gone, leaving Margot still pale in gloom and darkness, not having seen the sun. The children walk slowly towards the closet, now silent, and let Margot out.

As you might imagine, this was a somewhat emotionally distressing story to read as an 11-year-old, and it has stuck with me, now 25 years later. When I saw the weather report for today, calling for 72 degrees, I knew I had to do everything in my power to take advantage of it.

This morning, we headed off to church for a Bible Study I'm participating in on Thursday mornings. It's on the Book of Revelation by Beth Moore and it is ah-mazing. And they provide childcare. Can't get much better than that.

After Bible Study, I picked up the kids and we enjoyed a quick lunch, then to a wonderful park a little ways away. "Playground, playground!", my children chanted as we drove into the park. They ran from the car to the park's play area and for over an hour they climbed and swung and ran and built sand castles.

I was struck by the dichotomy of my day. I had spent my morning learning about peals of thunder to come during the tribulation and spent my afternoon listening to squeals of delight from my daughter as I pushed her ever higher on the swing.

After the park, we went shopping and threw caution to the wind, completely disregarding naps altogether. It was a day worthy of skipping naps - and that's saying quite a lot coming from me. Surprisingly, tomorrow it's supposed to be 75 degrees, so we may endeavor to relive our day of sunshine, being sure to savor every sunbeam and breathe in every fresh breeze, now confident in the fact that Spring is just around the corner.