Monday.

Monday.

Unexpectedly arriving with a glorious 27°C and all the feelings of summer vacation.

In the suddenly quiet house, my eyes land on a sunhat and the bottles of sunscreen that have been hibernating in the cupboard all winter.

I even know exactly where I put my “sunbathing swimsuit.”

But…

It’s a workday.

From the corner of the room, my blue-lit screen waves at me. Technically it’s silent, yet today it’s buzzing loudly in my ears:

“Viktorija… your Summer Guide descriptions aren’t going to write themselves. Please, take a seat at your desk…”

I grab the curtain and pull it shut,

so my eyes won’t be distracted by the 27 degrees practically dancing outside the window.

I sit down.

Focus.

Write without even glancing to the side.

I think I may have just set a new personal record for typing speed.

And finally, after putting a bold full stop at the end,

I dash to pull the curtains open and check whether getting tan o’clock has already passed.

In an instant, I’m stretched out on a sun lounger.

I “bathe” myself in oils hurriedly awakened from their winter sleep.

A floppy sunhat lands on my head, I slip into my swimsuit, and hurry off to a very different kind of lunch break.

As I settle in, the feeling is so good that I come up with a new idea:

I’ll write The ABCs of the Summer Feeling and gift it to every buyer of Summer Guide ’26.

And for dessert, another thought quietly rolls into my mind:

My job is absolutely, ridiculously wonderful.

Not that I always think so.

I’ll admit it—

sometimes I grumble at it.

Because just as I’m about to fall asleep, it starts poking me with tiny needles:

“Don’t forget to think about this… and that…”

It pinches me with all the little things I still haven’t done.

But today…

today I’m praising it all the way up to the blue sky and back.

Because it lets me spend my lunch breaks soaking up vitamin D,

wearing a swimsuit and a sunhat,

keeping company with Summer,

who arrived out of nowhere.

They say tomorrow it’ll be spring again.

Today…

I fell in love with my work all over again.

Greetings from an afternoon sweetened not with calories,

but with life’s little joys.

V.