Nothing compares

Sinead O'Connor has this song Nothing compares. It's playing in my head but not because of a love crisis. I've been thinking about things that just cannot be compared to.
June 1st has just turned to June 2nd (don't ask me why I'm still up because I don't really know). The sun shone beautifully all day and it was as summery as it gets this early on. For me summer starts June 1st and I think it is utterly unfair if the weather doesn't co-opearte. There have been summers that have began with rain and weather that resembled more the fall than summer. So, I at least am tickled that we had such a lovely day.
It's funny that although it's been years since I went to school the first of June still spells summer and holiday to me. I love that little excited sensation in the pit of my stomach that says "No school! You're free for two and a half glorious months. It's summer!" Remember that feeling? I still get it.
And then earlier in the spring there were those days when we - my best friend Riitta and myself - were walking home from school. We used to take the scenic route through a park because it was quicker (except in the winter when it got so slippery that it was easier to take the other route). Anyhow, it took ten minutes to walk to school 15 at the most but we've managed to walk home for nearly an hour. We'd talk and play and when spring came and the first really warm days we just had to take off our shoes and socks and try how it felt to be bare footed after the long winter. I loved that feeling when your toes first touched the new grass. Nothing compares to it, nothing still does.
On the other hand, later in the summer came the first day of going to the beach and going into the water. In Finland since we are kind of high up in the north the water never gets very warm but by Midsummer it usually is warm enough and a child determined to swim in the sea certainly will think so, even if adults don't. And so you walk to the water front, enjoy the fine sand under your feet and take your first steps of the summer into the water. It's still kind of cold but oh, how great it feels.
I think this is the saddest part of becoming an adult. I (and I suspect we all) lost the ability to be absolutely present in the moment. I lost the capacity to immerse myself into whatever it was that I was doing, observing or thinking. I lost touch with touch - and smell. But all of it is still in me I'm sure. It just takes more concentrating and yes, it isn't quite the same anymore. But I love that I've had it and I'm pretty sure that children everywhere still have it. That is also why it so fascinating to watch them play.
It is an amazing world we live in - and so precious. Nothing compares to it.