Being a Buckeye (to the lay person, this means I grew up in Ohio)… I was no stranger to the four (4) seasons of the year. Winter always gave us a white blankety landscape where we could ride on lunch trays (our version of sleds) down a hill; barrel down bigger hills on skis; ice skate on ponds, build snow forts and snowmen, have outrageous snowball fights, and my favorite – drink hot cocoa with lots of marshmallows! In Spring, the days would become warmer and longer and flowers would brighten the landscape; we would hunt for Easter eggs, play tag in the rain, throw a ball around with some friends, roll down a grassy hill and then just lay there looking at the clouds trying to figure out what they look like. All this fun was Spring’s way of announcing the promise of summer which would drive excitement into every school child. Then you would hear the ring of the Ice Cream truck, and you knew Summer was here! This meant you would have ALL DAY to do nothing, if you wanted… OR, all day to do EVERYTHING:  swimming, baseball, tennis, kick the can, picnics in the park, camping, fishing, bike rides… <takes a breath>… you could build a clubhouse, pick blackberries, go to the zoo, sell lemonade, set off fireworks, and make a bonfire in your backyard. Do you remember that game, kick the can? I used to play – outside – for hours with my friends.  Then, a chill would hit the air and the leaves would hit the ground in spectacular color, and we all knew Autumn was here. With each shiver I felt and each leaf I raked, I would feel exhilarated knowing there were two things I would get to experience soon: Halloween and jumping in big piles of leaves.

These are my memories of the four (4) seasons growing up in the Midwest. I’m sure for you; the memories may be slightly different but the “feeling” is the same.

So moving to a country that is 9 degrees above the equator is quite a change. In Costa Rica, we don’t experience the seasons the way I remember them growing up. Instead, we have two (2) main seasons – rainy and dry. When I first heard this, I said “wait a minute, how can the rain determine what season it is?” To this Midwestern boy, this is kind of like not having any seasons at all… thus, the title of this blog post. And to top it off, the sun rises and sets around the same time every day here, which is between 5:15-5:45 am and pm.

Now in all fairness, I have not lived here for a FULL year yet. It’s only been one month, BUT I was able to secure an interview with Mother Nature herself recently and so, I’m fairly certain what I’m saying is accurate.  I mean, come on. How can I argue with Mother Nature?

Matter of fact, when I asked Her about the seasons, she told me this.

• Winter starts at the shortest day of the year which is December 21 and is called the Winter Solstice
• Spring starts when there is an even amount of day light and night which is called the Vernal Equinox and is on March 20
• Summer starts at the longest day of the year which is June 21 and is called the Summer Solstice.
• Autumn starts when there is an even amount of day and night which is called the Autumnal Equinox and is on September 22

Needless to say, it’s going to be interesting to experience pretty much the same weather for most of the year AND the same amount of daylight each day. Basically, the four (4) seasons as I remember them will cease to exist. And thus, I’ll be living in a Tim Burton meets Chris Columbus movie where the story is about a historic battle amongst the Seasons that took place in an era of chaos and mystification where our little isthmus – Costa Rica – is the battleground for an epic clash amongst the elements. Summer, of course, triumphs over Spring, Winter and Autumn, forcing the inhabitants of the land to live with only sunshine, landscapes perpetually in bloom, warm weather, and lots of strange and unusual creatures (that’s the Tim Burton part).

Hmmm… now that I think about it, I could live without the other three (3) seasons… especially since I could always go visit them somewhere else.

Pura Vida,

John