Sun on the Spree

I am an autumnal person. I look forward to the season all year. After spending time in Berlin I came to learn that the city feels like a perpetual autumn, sort of like how LA is a perpetual summer.  I grew up in Wisconsin and lived in Chicago,  I'm not adverse to grey weather; but while I was in Germany the cold and grey started to get to me. There's a wet chill that sort of sinks into your bones there.  A friend and I would meet by the Spree everyday around noon to get some sun. The sun only seemed to be shining for about an hour mid-day (sort of like that Ray Bradbury story). Our "sun meetings" were enough of a cheer-up before escaping back into the wet atmospheric city.
In my Autumns and in my nights, I can really trip myself up if I don't find my "suns". One of my brightest orbs, my friend Monika, recently moved to LA. I remember when I met her. I had grown frustrated with my surroundings and acquaintances. She was so different, so on, so forward thinking. I'd never met someone so positive, even though she at times readily admits that optimism isn't her first instinct. She's like my sun on the Spree. This year we swapped cities. She moved from my old apartment in Chicago to LA, and I moved from LA back to Chicago. I've been thinking about this as I settle into Chicago more permanently. I used to go, go, go, travel from city to city. It seemed that what I needed had to be immediate and present. But now as I pull into myself, I learn that I can be stilled and what I need doesn't always have to be right in front of me. I MISS HER SO BAD but I can feel her sun all the way from out West.