August is upon me and I find myself sitting on my porch, listening to a little Janis, sipping some red wine and watching the rain. What better time than this to reflect, er blog?
I can still smell the coco nutty Hawaiian Tropics oil (thank you Hawaiian Tropics, btw for the annual trip to the dermatologist) slathered on me and putting Sun-in in my hair while the Eagle's, "Take it Easy" played on the radio. We had a postage stamp of a property but it had a big ol' swimming pool with a big ol' cherry tree growing next to it. I'd swim in that pool all day and though I never did master climbing that cherry tree, I'd eat those cherries every chance I got. I loved summertime. Bike rides to the park, running to the ice cream truck (red, white and blue snow cones for me), catching lightening bugs (for some reason they weren't fire flies), charcoal BBQ's (what's propane?)that burnt my hot dogs just right, wearing wooden clogs and terry-cloth shorts jumpsuits with the white piping on the sides. Summertime meant staying out past dark. It meant swimming till all I could smell was chlorine and my fingers were pruney. It meant beach towel/lawn chair tents. It meant wrapping myself in a towel and playing Pac Man on grandma's shag rug. It meant talking into the fan to hear my voice transformed...Trips "down the shore"....floating around on a raft endlessly.....I can remember the family BBQ's and suppers from Rick's Fish. There was always lots of food and lots of laughs. Days riding my banana-seat bike over heat-wavy pavement and cooler evening games of kickball in the street. Dancing around my grandparent's kitchen table with the rest of my crazy family to Eddy Grant's, "Electric Avenue." Sleepovers at Star's and our Cabbage Patch kids....Mr. Sirotnik lining that big hole in his backyard with plastic and filling it with water and swimming in it even though we had a pool next door! Scratching mosquito bites and putting x's in them with my nails so they'd stop itching.
August dragged on so hot and so long back then. Now, it seems to just fly past in a blink of an eye. I find myself consciously creating "memories" for my kids, hoping that one day they will look back just as fondly as I do, on their endless summers. I had the unique situation where my school was literally just beyond the fence in my backyard and inevitably, at some point, every August, I'd be floating around on that inner tube and a breeze would shift the leaves in such a way that I could feel fall creeping in. I could hear the voices of the ghosts in the empty high school hallways and knew that summer was slipping away. Then Tears for Fears, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" would come on and I'd close my eyes and push those thoughts away and just drift around carelessly, never knowing just how fleeting that time would be.
I can still smell the coco nutty Hawaiian Tropics oil (thank you Hawaiian Tropics, btw for the annual trip to the dermatologist) slathered on me and putting Sun-in in my hair while the Eagle's, "Take it Easy" played on the radio. We had a postage stamp of a property but it had a big ol' swimming pool with a big ol' cherry tree growing next to it. I'd swim in that pool all day and though I never did master climbing that cherry tree, I'd eat those cherries every chance I got. I loved summertime. Bike rides to the park, running to the ice cream truck (red, white and blue snow cones for me), catching lightening bugs (for some reason they weren't fire flies), charcoal BBQ's (what's propane?)that burnt my hot dogs just right, wearing wooden clogs and terry-cloth shorts jumpsuits with the white piping on the sides. Summertime meant staying out past dark. It meant swimming till all I could smell was chlorine and my fingers were pruney. It meant beach towel/lawn chair tents. It meant wrapping myself in a towel and playing Pac Man on grandma's shag rug. It meant talking into the fan to hear my voice transformed...Trips "down the shore"....floating around on a raft endlessly.....I can remember the family BBQ's and suppers from Rick's Fish. There was always lots of food and lots of laughs. Days riding my banana-seat bike over heat-wavy pavement and cooler evening games of kickball in the street. Dancing around my grandparent's kitchen table with the rest of my crazy family to Eddy Grant's, "Electric Avenue." Sleepovers at Star's and our Cabbage Patch kids....Mr. Sirotnik lining that big hole in his backyard with plastic and filling it with water and swimming in it even though we had a pool next door! Scratching mosquito bites and putting x's in them with my nails so they'd stop itching.
August dragged on so hot and so long back then. Now, it seems to just fly past in a blink of an eye. I find myself consciously creating "memories" for my kids, hoping that one day they will look back just as fondly as I do, on their endless summers. I had the unique situation where my school was literally just beyond the fence in my backyard and inevitably, at some point, every August, I'd be floating around on that inner tube and a breeze would shift the leaves in such a way that I could feel fall creeping in. I could hear the voices of the ghosts in the empty high school hallways and knew that summer was slipping away. Then Tears for Fears, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" would come on and I'd close my eyes and push those thoughts away and just drift around carelessly, never knowing just how fleeting that time would be.
Love your style. Your memories sound just how summer should be. Your kids will have different memories than yours, but I'm confident they will look back just as fondly.
ReplyDeleteah, summer. Fond memories both from my childhood and now! I don't want it to end!
ReplyDelete