I get nostalgic for summer when I get deep into it, missing it before it's even over. I begin to think about all the things of this blessed season that "make" it for so many of us.
What would summer be without my favorite fast song playing on the car radio, hitting the best part just as I crest a hill? What would it be without a slow song at sundown, an old song when I'm passing a former hangout full of good memories?
What would summer be without a happy-hour Sonic beverage to sip all evening? Without frozen drinks that give me brain freeze, endless pitchers of Kool-Aid sweating on the counter after chilling all night? Without iced tea that tastes like all the summers of my life?
What would summer be without family gatherings: celebratory dinners, Click's Steakhouse, the nieces and nephews trailing though like confetti streamers on their summer visits? Without the homemade ice cream and elaborate birthday cakes for the 10 summer birthdays we have (out of 13)?
What would summer be without a certain tang in the smell of the air conditioner in my childhood home---or the lovely chill of the air in my own house, set where I and only I want it? What would it be without the sweltering crush of humidity when I walk out of a too-cold restaurant or movie theater? Without my slightly-darker left arm from so much driving with the sun on it?
What would summer be without the smell of coconut and suntan lotion and the fizz of a Coke in the nose? What would it feel like without the utter abandonment of "cool" points to ooh and ahh over Rockets over Rhema fireworks? How would it seem without the unstructured eight weeks of physical, spiritual, and mental recovery from 10 months of non-stop work? Where would I wind up without that frame to keep me sane?
What would summer be without multi-lane highways, exactly five miles over the speed limit? Or without patchy blacktop I can drive with the confidence of a surgeon, negotiating the bumps by speeding up a little? Or without the familiar rumble of gravel, the slight drift when I know I'm at just the right pace?
What would summer be without singing along and laughing too loud and dressing as casual as I want? What would it be without lightning bugs and meteor showers? How wonderful could it be with no reading or movies or long quiet nights alone? Without a computer with infinite links to a world bigger than we, any of us, really realize?
How wonderful could summer be without all the connections reconnected, the hearts restored, the homes full of good, fresh things---fruits and flowers and garden bounty?
Summer isn't just for students and teachers. As it does for nature, it refreshes and fills us all with new energy for one more year. How lucky we are to have it!
What a glorious ode to summer! I could feel, taste and hear all of the things you mentioned. When I reflect on the summers gone by one of my favorite memories is at Nanny and Poppa's farm just outside of Slaughterville, OK. On those hot, humid nights Poppa would pull two iron post beds out into the front yard and situate them just so under the overhanging branches of the massive oak tree. We would lay on cool sheets, three or four to a bed, giggling with Nanny, the most awesome grandma the Lord created! We would talk and giggle until sleep would finally come over us like a blanket. Sweet, sweet times. Thanks for the memory jog!
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