Hard to believe the year is flying by so fast, but today is the longest day of the year:

The solstice heralds the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. In 2013, the solstice falls on Friday, June 21 at 5:04 Universal time, which is 1:04 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time and 12:04 A.M. Central Daylight Time.

And it’s not just the longest day of the year, tomorrow night will also feature a “supermoon”:

This year’s summer solstice also stands out because it will be followed shortly after by the largest “supermoon” of the year. In the early hours of Sunday, June 23, the moon will officially reach its full phase and will be the closest to Earth that it will be all year.

While the astrology-minded might be tempted to see significance in the timing of the two celestial events, there is no connection, said Mark Hammergren, an astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.

“People draw this connection between [the supermoon] and the summer solstice, but it’s completely coincidental,” he added.

Back in olden days, the summer solstice was a real cause for celebration, but I’m not sure it has anything to do with sex. Still, all these links have a lots of fun and interesting facts about summer solstice traditions all over the world.

My wife Tracey used to dread the longest day of the year when we lived up in New England because that meant the days were about to start getting shorter, and that just meant fall and winter being around the corner. Still, there’s plenty of summer left – especially here in the Valley of the Sun – so my recommendation is to enjoy the day for what it is and celebrate all the good things the warmth of the sun brings us!