It’s Friday. It’s hotter than 17 hells. You’re tired. You’re ready for the weekend to start. You’re a grownup who probably has to go to work on this steamy morn. So, let’s take a break. Let’s stop and take a second to remember our (well, really my) favorite things about this time of year…hint, it’s not getting a tan.
1. Mawmaw’s tomatoes fresh from her garden. I don’t know what she did to those tomatoes, but she would pick ‘em, cut ‘em up with some cucumber and some iceberg, and damn if that wasn’t the best salad you’ve ever had. I’ve tried many a time to replicate it. Can’t do it. There was something about her tomatoes, her garden, her house in the foothills of NC, her summertime that made those the best damn tomatoes on this planet.
2. That drive to the beach. Any of ya’ll that grew up an hour or two away from the coast know what I’m talking about. On Fridays our entire town would pack up and head to the beach for the weekend. It was, and I’m sure, still is a mass exodus. Hot, sticky legs stuck to the vinyl in dad’s puke yellow Datsun station wagon. Trying not to touch each other in the back seat, three across. Dad bitchin steadily about traffic. All so we could drive two hours to see the same people we saw all week, just in our bathing suits. I remember thinking that the draw bridge on the way to the beach was the very same one were Annie was filmed…I still think about that every time I drive by, which is rare these days.
3. The swimming pool. Esther is still the prettiest lifeguard/woman I’ve ever met and I’ll play Marco Polo ‘til the cows come home. Who’s up for a game?
4. Fireflies. Bottle ‘em up, catch ‘em in your hands, feel them flutter against your skin. Miracles, those little critters are. You have to admit that even as a grown up, you still get excited when you see some. Early in the summer, when there are hundreds lighting up the marsh, it’s just magical.
5. Sumer camp. Your church camp, my church camp, girl scout camp, craft camp…whateves…I was down. Summer camp is the jam…don’t let anyone tell you different.
6. Watermelon.
7. Swimming between 2 adults in the ocean where you can’t touch. My parents friends, Susan and Ann (remember that part about driving 2 hours to hang out with the people you saw all week) used to stand in the ocean shoulder deep and I would swim back and forth between the two of them for what seemed like hours. You see, my parents (shocker) are more of the sit on the beach in a chair under an umbrella kinda people. I was more of a swim in the ocean until you were a wrinkled mess kinda person.
8. UNO. I’m talking the card game people. Anyone who grew up going to Garden City will tell you that I kick more ass than a donkey at UNO. It’s still, literally, my favorite game. I make the hubs (and any others I can hold captive) play it all the time.
9. Floating down the creek. Now days, I’ve moved up to floating down a river…same thing. You know it’s heaven. If you’ve never done it, my brother is the Olympic captain of the floating team, so give him a call, he’ll be glad to “get a float together”.
10. Freedom. That feeling of freedom is something that you will never again be able to replicate. Unless you’re independently wealthy and don’t have to work or report to anyone and if that’s the case, please give me a call and let me know your secret, but otherwise, hold on to that freedom, young ones. There will never be a time in your life when your friends, the pool, the ocean, the world is at your beck and call. Never again will you play kick the can, or ride your bike with such great abandon. Never again will you jump off of the old railroad trestle into the creek-mostly because now you are WAY too smart to do something so stupid-but still. Never again will you put fireflies in a mason jar, poke holes in the top and put them by your bed at night. Never again will you pile in your friend’s dad’s car while he drives you all down to the beach (cause he drew the short straw, I guess) holding a cold one that was discretely wrapped in a “Pipsi” cola can cover. Never will those days seem longer and nights seem more fun. Never will digging a huge hole on the beach give you the satisfaction of a king. So, ride your bike without a helmet. Swim past where you can reach the ocean floor. Light up some sparklers. Pile the kids in the car and head for the coast. Remember the magic that is summer, and when you get stung by that jellyfish and burn your hand on a sparkler…come see me at the hospital. I’m sure I’ll be working that day.
Ciao Y’all 