A Summer Update
Our summer so far. The beach and fireworks. Baseball and soccer camps. Late nights. Popcorn and burgers. Parades and friends. The beach. Maybe the next day, go to the beach.
Long lines of out of town cars lining up for the beach as you drive by to gather more sandwiches, chips and watermelon with a knowing smirk of how to avoid this line on the way home. Packing the cooler and rubbing sunblock on strong little shoulders and sweet noses that look like yours. Digging holes in the sand, forming a makeshift pool for your littlest one who doesn’t care for the waves and sound of the ocean. Turning every now and then to the surf to keep an eye on those that relish it, hearing their squeals of delight as the waves lap to their shoulders, sometimes over their heads, sometimes one caught and rode all the way in on the boogie boards they carried themselves. (A family rule, mom is already bringing enough to last us a week.)
May our beach days be long and full of waves and sun.
Summer mornings with a sun that has crested over the horizon hours earlier than you needed to be up, it’s warm rays already making your thirsty flowers open, stamens ready for the industrious bees buzzing from bloom to bloom. A quiet walk with the dog, before the sun is too high, catching scents of the the Virginia Rose bush, the sea breeze bringing wafts even after you’ve passed. Quiet nods of good morning to neighbors, eyes both glinting with the silent gratitude between you about this morning, this place, our home.
Summer evenings that bring that magic light that softens features and moods. Bedtimes become unimportant in the waning sun. The low tide even warmer after a day’s worth of cloudless sun. Contentment and peace reign over this self-proclaimed kingdom. One you’ve claimed by surviving the bitter winter and relentless, chilled spring of the region. Walking home, in the fading light, there will be towels to ring and wash, sand will linger on kitchen floors, even after being swept. Days of drinking in summer, being gluttons of the bright hot days will create piles of unwashed or unfolded laundry. But these weeks are not unending. Soon, too soon every year, the chill of the disappearing sun will come earlier, the sun will rise later, and the first tree to show it’s aging leaves will make your heart hurt just a little.
Queen Sunshine
Magic.
So we stay present and joyfully sweep sand and pack the cooler and wash towels and salt soaked swimsuits day after day. Enjoying the sweat that beads on our brow and the cold ice cream we decided to have for dinner. We bless these midsummer days and let the heat allow us to slow. Let these hot days feels like forever. Let us become temporarily immortal in the sun and surf. Our happy gratitude making us live forever in this season of bounty.
