With the prediction of nearly 80 degree highs today, I can’t help but get annoyingly excited about summer being on its way. I can finally wear the cropped pants and sandals to work that, while not the shorts and flip flops I prefer, are still so much better than wool socks and down coats. There’s something about walking around in summer clothes that just makes me feel better about everything. It’s easier to get up in the morning, to make my lunch, to make the commute to work with some skin exposed to the already warm air.
Of course, this has me thinking summer thoughts, especially about summers past and what I remember about them. There always seems to be that one thing, good or bad, that defines a summer. Like when I was about 22, in true summer kick-off style, I was at a Memorial Day barbecue with friends. Combine the happiness of completing four years of college with a hot day, Julie’s father’s home brew, and a giant trampoline. Well, you do the math. Yep, that was the summer of the Worst Ankle Sprain of All Time. I spent months recovering, and it would be years before that ankle wouldn’t just sporadically hurt for no reason other than to remind me of how stupid I’d been. I haven’t gone near a giant trampoline since.
Then there was the summer I conquered the mountain. Training started early in the year, but from May to August, me and a few other equally insane friends didn’t let a weekend pass that we weren’t running up and down some section of that mountain training for the race. We visited that mountain more that summer than I’d ever thought possible. It’s probably the most dedicated I’ve been to training, ever. There were good days, hard days, and days with lightning and thunder at 14,000 feet, but we kept on it. The training was difficult, rewarding, and totally worth it in the end. That was the summer of the mountain.
Somehow, though not all equal, the memories of summers always stand out in my mind. The things I gained, the things I lost, are all there when I look back. Most went way too fast, while others seemed long, hard, and sometimes unfair. But when I see the sun shining through the spray of a lawn sprinkler or kids on their bikes, everything seems to fall into place.
Makes me wonder what I’ll look back and remember about this summer.
brookem says:
Oh I LOVE big trampolines! But your story scares me just a bit!
Hope that this summer is one to remember for all GOOD things!
April 30th, 2008 at 7:50 am
anne says:
Oh god I hope its a good one. I hope this is not the summer lost-to-the wedding. It can’t be!
April 30th, 2008 at 8:17 am
The Exception says:
Summer memories… why is it that since moving east, part of the memory of each summer is whether or not it was extremely humid or just humid!
(I do love summer memories)
April 30th, 2008 at 10:44 am
barbara says:
It’s true, summer is what we remember. Although maybe it’s just what we want to remember.
I guess nobody has to tell you not to drink and trampoline this summer.
April 30th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
JACC says:
80? Grrrr.
The kids a few yards over have been jumping on their trampoline for hours every day for the last two weeks.
I keep waiting for one of them to have a summer like your 22nd.
April 30th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
girlgoyle says:
I did the same thing and de-robed maybe a bit too soon. Now I’m battling a cold that has turned into a cough. I have been deceived by spring!
May 1st, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Danielle says:
Ok, I officially hate you…you understand it’s not personal right? Just extreme jealousy over the fact that I got into summer clothes and shoes for a day or two and then had to back track and we have rain with potential snow mixed in this weekend…:( I want summer…and the thing that really sucks, is we have predictions toward a colder than normal summer. Since I suffer through the cold to bask in the warm you can expect I’m NOT a happy camper! I’m just back to trying to force positive thoughts that spring will come!!
May 1st, 2008 at 12:26 pm