Today is the last day of July which means there’s less than one month of summer left.
Why is it that now that I’m an adult, summer moves by at warp speed? I remember when I was a child, those long days of June, July and August stretched out like a road with no end. I could go off and do whatever I wanted as long as I was home by dinnertime. School never started until after Labor Day.
I remember how all the neighborhood kids and I would ride our bikes to the beach and on the way home the sand in our bathing suits would scratch at our bodies like sandpaper. When we finally got home, sleepy from playing all day in the waves and cranky because we only packed a baloney sandwich on white bread and an apple for lunch, we would fight over who got to rinse off with the hose first because the water was warm for only a few seconds.
I remember how we cleaned the tar from our feet with a rag soaked in gasoline poured from an old metal can which turned our fingers orange from the rusty cap. I remember how our shoulders would be tender and pink from sunburn; how we would come home with more freckles across our noses than we had when we left that morning.
I remember how good my mother’s homemade meatloaf and mashed potatoes tasted and that I would even eat all my peas because I was so ravenous. I remember the sweet creaminess of a real vanilla ice cream cone after dinner. I remember hearing the crickets chirp while playing hide and seek in the street until the porch light went on and I was called in for the night.
Summer may be different for me now, but it’s still summer. I may play in the garden instead of in the waves. I may stay out of the sun now. But it’s still summer, and it’s still magical. And everywhere I look there are signs that it’s here for a little while longer.
Here’s my proof.
I hope you enjoy the rest of your lazy days of summer.
Very nice Ruby! I get to remember lighting bugs, cold Lake Michigan, actually sitting out a night to be cool, a screened in sun porch with endless Monopoly games, and the smell of the twilight, indescribable. Oh yes, and heavy Midwest lighting storms with booming thunder.
So envious you got those Midwestern thunderstorms. That’s the only bad thing about living in California–not enough rain!
Love this, Jessie! Those are the same memories of summer I have -wonder why:)?
We did have some wonderful experiences, didn’t we? Too bad everything’s changed so much since the sixties. xxoo
You capture the magic perfectly!
It was a carefree and magical time, wasn’t it?
Wonderful memories. Thanks Jessie!
I do miss those days.
I love your proof of summer. My niece just got a dalmation. The waves image and tar were neat memories.
I bet your niece is thrilled. Dalmatians are wonderful dogs. And the puppies are just the cutest things ever.
So many wonderful summer memories so beautifully expressed, Jessica. I remember that damn tar on my feet and the sand in the bathing suit, and being pink, tender and ravished with hunger. Good times!
Beautiful! And I want one of those puppies!
You can have one, Leah. It might cost you a pretty penny though.
Summer is always fleeting, and I have my own thoughts about summertime in all its freedom and metaphor; more to the point, psychological studies do confirm why time appears to move more quickly as we get older. Of course, the beauty of this post is that you may think you’re bemoaning the speed with which summer passes, when, in truth, the bulk of your reflection luxuriates in what the season signifies.
And I am luxuriating away at my computer right now, hoping to slow the passage of time. You always make me think.
The rain today, after so many days of heat that keeps me from sleeping well, is glorious. So are your ‘signs of summer.’ I too am lamenting the speed with which my life passes; particularly summer. And yet…in these fast passings are memories worth their weight in gold…memories I hope my brain will allow me to remember forever.
Making memories is really what we’re here for, I believe. I’m working harder to make them before I too, am unable to remember!
(I’m so envious that you got rain!! )