Summer solstice. The year's longest day and what to do with it.

The summer solstice arrives this week — the longest day of the year, and the day from which the retreat toward December begins. I write about the solstice every year in WiseTip, not because I am devotedly attuned to astronomical events, but because the solstice is one of the year's few occasions that is genuinely available to everyone, costs nothing, and produces a direct, physical relationship between the child and the planet they live on.

My son knows that the solstice is coming. He has been tracking sunset times for two weeks. On the solstice itself, he will stay outside until the last light is gone. He started this habit at nine, without prompting. He has done it every year since.

My son will stay outside until the last light is gone on June 21st. He has done this since he was nine. He does not require permission or company. He knows the moment. He knows why it matters. He knows where he is in the year. That knowing is the product of seven years of deliberate attention to the same evening. This is the specific thing that produces the change. The change comes from the practice. The practice comes from the decision to try it once, this week, in