Every time I’ve opened my closet the past couple months, it’s been nothing but me dodging eye contact with the summery garments staring me down.
My lightweight navy-and-white striped dress that screams spring had been resting on a hanger in my closet since last September, and it wanted to be worn as badly as I wanted to wear it.
The brown mules collecting dust in a dark corner of my room sat patiently awaiting an answer to the same question I am dying to know. When will it be warm enough to wear spring clothes?
So when the heat wave of April 12 and 13 came sweeping through Bloomington, it was no secret. In every small-talk conversation people have carried on in the past week, someone has mentioned, “ It’s going to be in the 70s on Thursday and Friday!”
After rain and snow in the first two weeks of April, everyone has been dying to toss chunky sweaters and bulky coats to the side, wear their Birkenstocks without socks and trade in their knit hats for baseball caps.
I imagine everyone was eyeing up the summery pieces they would wear to soak up the 48 hours of sun that passed through at the end of last week. After all, we needed to make it count before snow and 38-degree weather came flying through the Monday after.
Sure enough, like the flip of a switch, campus was glowing April 12. Everywhere you looked, there were floral sundresses and Chacos or khaki shorts and flip-flops. Not a single Patagonia quarter-zip or oversized sweatshirt could be seen.
And it was more than just the clothes. It was the faces of those around me too. As I pranced to class in my navy-and-white striped dress and mules, a smile was stamped on my face that I couldn’t seem to erase, because the sun was shining and so were the people around me.
Pleasant expressions rested behind Ray Bans worn by a sea of people walking around. And for the first time in months passers-by looked like young, happy college students rather than zombies bundled up like burritos walking towards the apocalypse.
The sun is a powerful thing, and guess what? So are clothes. Just like the warmth hitting your shoulders as you walk out of Ballantine puts a childish grin on your face, so does the switch of seasons in your attire. Poking your head out of a turtleneck and into a tank top has the same effect. This change in wardrobe is the official sign that summer is near.
As I hung up my navy dress and traded in my brown mules for my black booties once again this Monday, I looked sadly at the other summer dresses and strappy sandals staring at me like a puppy that wants you to take it home from the shelter.
With the forecast this week, it’s hard to say what clothes will make an escape from my closet. But if we manage to jump above 60 degrees, you know campus will be covered with bro tanks, jorts and running shorts.
