Cities have a special charm in the middle of summer. Although less and less, as people space out their vacations throughout the year more frequently lately.
For those of us who stay in our cities in summer we have the opportunity to live them with an intimacy much more difficult to experience at other times of the year In some ways, it is an intimacy similar to the one we have with our partners or with people who are very important to us.
The relationship between intimacy with the city and with loved ones
Below I present five aspects in which this intimacy with our city and with our special people is intertwined:
1. Wandering aimlessly
Nowadays, having time to dedicate to this wandering is a privilege. During the holidays we can walk without a predefined objective through the streets of our city. Discovering buildings that we had not noticed, the color palette of a certain area of the city, the vibrant atmosphere of a neighborhood that we do not usually pass through, or the size of the trees that we often ignore.
Similarly, When we are with a loved one without rushing and without an agenda, we discover them again All those months in which we have been together in such a hurry have not allowed us to delight in the person we have chosen to be with us.
Cities maintain a schedule of activities even in the hottest of summers. It is the news of the city. What is alive and happening right now.
People also have a current situation. With what is important to each of us right at this moment in our lives. In the rush of everyday life we do not update the version of the people with whom we share life
What is current is relevant to feel united in the present to our cities and to those we love.
3. Those postponed visits
There are always spaces, areas, in the places where we live that, even though they seem very interesting to us, we leave for another time. They require a tranquility that does not usually accompany us during the course. These spaces can be a certain monument, a visit to certain paintings, delving into a certain historical period of our territory, etc.
A similar process occurs with our special people. There are aspects of those people that we know we only know superficially. Conversations that we feel we have not finished, since they would imply being able to talk with more time and serenity. It is an intentional search for the other in this case. Summers offer what is necessary to resume postponed conversations There is time for exposure, for finding oneself, for not finding oneself – as these are usually delicate topics – and for finding oneself again.
4. What separates us
There are things in our cities that we don’t like. Even to feel this we need a certain state of mind. It could be the weather, the transportation infrastructure, the cultural environment, etc. We say yes to a city and we live it fully when we have assumed the parts of them that we dislike
And it’s the same with people. When we can be together knowing what separates us, the union becomes more meaningful and solid.
5. What we don’t find and still choose to stay
Our cities are missing things that are important to each of us. We refer to irreparable absences since they are so relevant that the longing continues. Sometimes this is the reason that starts trips. Those landscapes, that light, that cultural atmosphere, which does not exist in my city and does exist in other places. I travel and return. Somehow I nourish myself with what is important to me in that other place and I return to the city where I have decided to live.
In relationships with our loved ones, space for each one is important, to nourish oneself outside of the relationship with the activities and environments that are essential for each one. The couple, or the special relationship, becomes stronger because fuller and happier people come to it.
In conclusion
These are some areas in which intimacy with our cities and with our loved ones is interwoven.
Human beings need to live our intimacy – being able to be with our sensitivity on the surface knowing that the other person is going to take care of us – in the healthiest way possible. We need to feel that we have a special relationship with another person or with “an other”, for example the place where we live.
Summer and the departure of people to other places gives us the opportunity to fall in love again with our cities and our loved ones.
