It's Officially Summer.

How do I know, you ask? Well.....

Yes, it's June 21st - the summer solstice. But that's not how I know.

Yes, it's my parent's anniversary (HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD! Thanks for getting married so you could then have me and I could then have the kick-ass life I've had). (My parent's anniversary, of course, doesn't really mean it's summer to anyone but me (and maybe them), but it's one of the ways I mark the start of summer.) But that's not how I know.

Yes, we haven't turned the heat on in over a week now, but that's now how I know. (And that's a true story - we had a freak day last week where the temp dropped over 30 degrees in a few hours and our windows had been open all day...creating a veritable ice box of an apartment, so we turned on the heat that night. Nothing like running the heat in June.)

I know it's summer because I went to a Jimmy Buffett concert last night.

Now, I own Jimmy's greatest hits album, and I enjoy his music, but I wouldn't call myself a Parrothead or anything. My friend Dave had an extra ticket and invited me to go, and I thought: Hey, why not?

WHAT A CONCERT. Seriously, unless Jimmy Buffett's voice grates on your soul and makes you vomit persistently for more than 6 hours, you really ought to do this at least once in your life. You don't have to be a fan to have fun. The whole concert is about fun! Jimmy played in his bare feet the whole concert. They put out beach balls in the seats before we got there to encourage the playful tossing of them amongst the stands. And if you just stand still, for just a second, and look around mid-song...you realize you're standing in the middle of literally THOUSANDS of happy people. You just can't be in a bad mood. And it is one hell of a way to kick off the summer, let me tell you. I feel summer in my bones now, even if it still gets into the 40s at night up here.

One of the coolest things Jimmy did all night was a a tribute to Johnny Carson. It was just the sweetest thing I've seen anyone do in a long time, and it gave me goosebumps. And then he had the band play "Why Don't We Get Drunk" (apparently one of Johnny's favorites even though it could never be played on the show) and had the crowd sing it. He didn't sing a word. Which was pretty cool.

There were also a surprising number of cover songs that Jimmy did. He covered Dave Matthews, James Taylor, Van Morrison, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, and Jack Johnson. what's cool about the last one is he is promoting someone who's still somewhat under the radar...someone who does Jimmy Buffett covers at his own concerts. I just think that's the pinnacle of modesty - there are many bands who do covers at concerts these days (in fact, most of them do at least one), but most of them cover someone "bigger" than them, or someone from a different musical generation. Jimmy Buffett just does covers of good music - screw it if it's someone less well-known or half his age.

In any case, I may be a converted Parrothead. Well...let's not take this too far. I'm not sure I'd be willing to wear a real coconut bra (as I saw on several women yesterday at the concert) or camp out all day and drink for 8 hours before the concert (yes, I'm getting old, I just can't handle that much drinking any more, I'd fall asleep at the concert). But I definitely didn't know all the songs he sang last night, and I enjoyed them all.

So, moral of the story?

It's summer. Go out and do something fun.

And happy anniversary to my parents.