It's bitter-sweet to write about summer as a cold wind howls through my apartment. As I type this I'm wearing a knit hat and hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled up over my head (no joke).

Every winter I ask myself why I live in Chicago. Midwest winters are brutal. They wear down your spirit. They turn you into a shivering zombie. Or rather, a shivering vampire - for four or five months out of the year it's light for only ten or so hours a day, and being outside is miserable anyway. So we huddle indoors, crank up the heat to an affordable level, pull out the blankets and sweaters, and bunker down for a long, cold winter.

Have we learned nothing from weather.com, which tells me that it will be 77 degrees in Tampa, FL tomorrow? Why do we allow ourselves to suffer like this winter after winter?

For one simple reason: the glorious summer. (Now, I'm the first to admit that once it gets up in the nineties, I'm complaining. But seeing as it's below zero outside at this exact moment, I'm going to ask for a little latitude.)

There is so much to love about summer. Everything is green. Flowers and plants hit their stride. Trees look full and healthy and provide much-welcome shade when the temperatures climb too high.

All the windows are open and there's always music coming from somewhere. It may not be your music, and it may not even be music you like, but it doesn't matter.

The park down the street is full of people. Everyone gets along there - whites, Hispanics, African Americans, Asians all come together and smile at each other. There's no tension at the park. We all share it and feel good about it.

The public pool opens. Every year I say to myself, "This is the year I'm going to get up early in the morning and go for a swim at least once a week." I have yet to go to the pool one time. ...Maybe this is the year.

Any day is a bike-ride day. Even if it looks like rain, who cares? Riding your bike in the rain is more fun than riding in the sun. Ahh, just writing this is warming me up.

I can't imagine a more perfect thing than a June afternoon spent at Wrigley Field enjoying a dog and a beer and watching the Cubbies.

So what is about a the winter that keeps us from packing up and moving to Los Angeles tomorrow? Because the cold makes us appreciate those precious summer months. It forces us outside on a nice day that could easily be spent on the couch with the A/C up and the TV on.

The summer feels a long way off right now. But it won't be long before the snow melts away, the heavy coats are stuffed into the back of the closet, and I'm filling my bike tires with air for a nice, long ride.

Learn more about this author, Sean Curtis.
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