A series of essays....
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| MICHIGAN SUNSHINE FIGHTING TO BREAK THROUGH THE CLOUD COVER |
....as seen through my eyes!
By: Jacqueline E. Hughes
Making it through the gray days while retaining some semblance of sanity is my goal in 2019. You see, I’ve been here once before in my lifetime, twenty-two years ago, and had hoped to never have to tread these particular waters again. However, I’ve discovered within the past eleven years that we have absolutely no control over our heartstrings and certain people know how to play the most melodious tunes on them while making you dance and sing as though the world were young and hopeful once again.
Those people include our grandchildren. Our first grandchild was born over eleven years ago. To be able to watch them grow-up while being a part of their lives was always our main reason for moving back to Michigan. The added benefit was reuniting with high school friends and making new friends who have become our family and pull at our heartstrings by just being their interesting and kind selves. Thank you each and every one of you! You've helped to make this transition possible.
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| CELEBRATING OUR GRANDSON'S BIRTHDAY |
Watching the Citrus Bowl New Year’s Day with Dan gave me another jolt of self-pity for which I’m not proud. As my husband was following the Kentucky Wildcats prove victorious over the Penn State Nittany Lions with a close final score of 27 to 24, I was observing the soft, white clouds drifting through the powder blue skies high above downtown Orlando, Florida! I was, once again, vicariously, feeling the warmth of the Floridian sun on my skin. For these reasons alone, it was the only Bowl Game I was truly interested in watching.
Having shared that cover of warm, beautiful blue skies, with the sun shining brightly overhead for so many years, a sudden spark of remorse circled within my gut as my eyes roamed from Orlando on the flat screen television to the gray skies and snow-dusted winter scene that continues to greet me outside the screened living room window of our Little Yellow Cottage in Michigan. Quite frankly, it’s not the cold that haunts me. I have several new plush and stylish coats that I enjoy snuggling into on my way out the door. Slipping my stocking feet into toe-covered shoes or sumptuously lined boots is a joy. And, my soft-lined gloves help protect my sensitive skin from being dry and painful. No, I’m good when it comes to utilizing my cold weather armor.
The lack of natural benefits from the sun is my most urgent concern.
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| A FLORIDA LIFESTYLE |
There are good reasons those of us who live in colder climates tend to flock to warm, sunny places for Winter and Spring breaks! We enjoy the prospect of basking in the sunshine, walking a sandy beach, and shedding most of our clothes in order to swim in the warm waters of an aquamarine ocean. We instinctively know that vitamin D does do a body good!
Even though most people become sun-wary and opt to work, Dracula-like, indoors in order to protect themselves from skin cancer, and slather sunscreen on when the outdoors finally beckons, there can be a health fallout from spending too much time shunning the sun. Experts explain that our lack of solar exposure is depriving us from some natural benefits.
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| A SYMBOL OF HOPE: A GOLDEN SUNRISE IN OUR NEW BACKYARD! |
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| STREET LIGHT OFFERING ITS GOLDEN WARMTH ON A COLD, SNOWY MORNING.... |
The Today Show contributor, Susan Donaldson James, tells us that nearsightedness is rising, perhaps afflicting one-third of the world's population by the end of this decade, and several studies have shown that kids who spend more time in sunlight are less likely to develop myopia.
She goes on to explain how light also plays a role in mood and sleep problems and how SAD or, seasonal affective disorder, is most common in winter when daylight hours are shorter. Now, new research is stressing the importance of sunlight absorption of vitamin D, a critical hormone steroid that has receptors in more than 2,000 parts of the body. Deficiencies could increase the risk of osteoporosis, heart disease, some cancers, infectious diseases, and even the flu, as claimed by the Harvard School of Public Health.
According to Dr. Michael F. Holick, a professor of medicine, physiology, and biophysics at Boston University School of Medicine, “Sun exposure is so important for your health. If you live above Atlanta, Georgia, for the first ten years of your life, you increase your risk of multiple sclerosis. If you were born near the equator, you have a ten to fifteen percent lower rate of diabetes.”
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| WINTER'S MANY SHADES OF GRAY |
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| CAPTURING THE COLORS OF A MICHIGAN SUMMER |
More than 80 percent of Americans have inadequate dietary intakes of vitamin D, according to the 2011 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. If you shun the sun, suffer from milk allergies, or adhere to a strict vegan diet, you may be at risk for vitamin D deficiency. Known as the sunshine vitamin, vitamin D is produced by the body in response to skin being exposed to sunlight. It also occurs naturally in a few foods, including some fish, fish liver oils, and egg yolks, and in fortified dairy and grain products. Vitamin D is essential for strong bones, because it helps the body use calcium from the diet.
I can remember feeling a bit disoriented or ‘blue’ after spending three or four hours writing inside my home office in Orlando. Setting everything aside, I would slip out through the sliding glass doors to sit on the edge of the pool dangling my feet in the cool water for ten to fifteen minutes while basking in the warmth of the sun. By then it was either put on my suit and take the plunge or, return into the glorious A.C. and continue my indoor activities. This was just enough time to feel invigorated, recharged, and ready to take on the world.
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| MISSING OUR BACKYARD PLAYGROUND |
The symbolism we find in wearing our flip-flops indoors and outside epitomizes the good life for most of us. It equals living within the proximity of the sunshine and being healthy, happy, and secure in the notion that life in the sun or on a beach is bound to be more wholesome and carefree. Just ask Jimmy Buffet!
There is little time more agreeable than knowing that whether you fly, take a train, or drive yourself to a sunny climate, the ceremony known as ‘peace of mind’ with time in the sun pulls us into another world and out of the constant gloom of gray skies and the lack of vitamin D.
I will be very careful the next time I even consider negating the southern migration of our so-called Snowbirds who require their time in the sun each winter, too.
Yes, weather wise Dan and I had it made (in the shade?) for over two decades. Sure, there were things to think about such as palmetto bugs finding their way into the house, sharing our outdoor space with various reptiles, and learning how to cope with the neighborhood squirrels eating through the pool’s solar panels up on the roof. But, for the most part, both of us adjusted well to all of the above.
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| A GARDEN FULL OF SUNSHINE |
I am certain that we will be able to adjust to winter temps, shoveling snow, and blowing into piles the large amount of leaves that fall in the yard in the autumn. What is in need of the most adjustment is learning how to live through so many gray days with the cloud cover thicker than the ice cover on Lake Michigan and deeper than the clear, blue ocean waters that draw us back to our humble beginnings.
In the meantime, I will make it through my first winter back in Michigan, cherish the companionship of family and friends, and plan on spending future time walking island beaches and sipping a pina colada or two while soaking-up the sun and collecting my much needed vitamin D.
Copyright © 2019 by Jacqueline E. Hughes
All rights reserved
