Each year, an otherwise unremarkable day becomes a holiday whose date we can't predict: the first day of warmth as winter finally comes to a close.
As the above-freezing air floods our endorphin-starved brains, we celebrate by wearing clothing that is still wildly inappropriate for the temperature and posting pictures of iced coffee on Instagram. The cold is likely to make a pesky comeback, but the sunlight and the end of the tunnel is there.
When I stepped out into the first warm air of this year, I was greeted by two thoughts. First, "This is amazing." Then, prompted by some internal code programmed in college, "Great day-drinking weather."
It was a weekday and I was heading to work, so my focus quickly shifted. But I did reminisce, with equal parts nostalgia and shame, of mid-afternoon drunken escapades of undergrad life.
Visit a university campus on a sunny Saturday in May, and you'll see firsthand the primal link between warm weather and drinking. Students in tank tops and sunglasses flood yards strewn with red cups and empty beer cans. If it's a fancy party, there might be an inebriated upperclassman grilling burgers. If it's an exceptionally gross party, there might be a kiddie pool.
A few years removed from graduation, it's easy to scoff at how embarrassing that sounds. But when I stop to think about it, I realize the springtime-day drink link is just as strong in the "adult" world.
Postgrad 20-somethings like to think that we've come so far from those college party days. In reality, our drinking has just become more organized and slightly classier.
For proof, examine the events scheduled for this spring and summer in Baltimore. There are at least five beer- and/or wine-related festivals. So instead of drinking warm Natty Light behind the Knox Boxes in College Park (RIP), we're trying craft beer in a well-kept public park. Trade the drunken grill master for some food trucks, and the transition is complete.
And adult day drinking has lots of other perks besides higher-quality food and drink. Everything will be much cleaner, and there will be sober people in charge of making sure things run smoothly. There will (hopefully) be fewer people puking or sloppily making out in the corner.
Yet I won't pretend there aren't some drawbacks that come with age. In college, a day drink either extends into the night or is followed by a power nap before rallying to go out again. Post-college, a day drink turns into an 8 p.m. hangover and a night watching Netflix on the couch (which actually sounds much better anyway).
Ultimately, these events underscore the fact that fun doesn't vanish once you enter the responsibilities-filled real world; the circumstances and expectations just shift to fit our new lives. It's not shameful to let loose and have some drinks with friends in the daytime; it's just more likely that there will be wristbands or some sort of kickball league involved. And during the dark, frigid days of winter, it's easy to fall into a rut and forget that such enjoyment exists.
Luckily, we've broken through the layer of ice, and warm days and sunshine are waiting for us around the corner. So cheers to spring — let's get outside and enjoy it before the humidity hits.
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Ellen Fishel's column appears regularly in b.