Sunday, June 29, 2008

Where the Wild Things Are

What is it about summer nights that makes us so wistful?

I just read this amazing post by Veronica. Check it out, you'll love it.
I was transported to my own visceral memories of summer.

Riding my silver 10 speed with the breeze whistling in my ears, buying a bag of penny candies from Mr. Montrose's corner store, kissing the next door neighbour while we huddled together during hide and seek, running through the sprinkler in my yellow bikini, reading underneath the willow tree, playing baseball at the schoolyard.

It was the glorious freedom of summer that made those memories so tangible. The excitement and thrill of possibility. So many options, all my own, time had no relevance. No-one was watching, not even me.
I felt more wild, beautiful, wise without the stricture of responsibility and expectation.

It's not the same as an adult. Nothing beats the summers of childhood. I didn't know there were restrictions. That some choices beget other choices. That some roads can't be found if they're not taken the first time.

But just walking outside and inhaling deeply the smell of the summer night is good.
I can remember the open road, the endless day.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for reminding me. Summer was always SOOOO good. Summer was always the best bathtub rings EVER. 'Cause we played so long and so hard and got so dirty .. Mom used to make me get undressed on the porch so I wouldn't wear that dirty stuff into the house.

Eve Grey said...

I do that to my kids! (The boys only, my daughter would surely refuse but she also doesn't roll in mud!)

Heather said...

Takes me back...I miss staying up with my brothers and sister just shooting the breeze without a care in the world til all hours, because the morning was for sleeping in and finding the new freedoms of a new day....Hoping to recapture some of that with dh as we vacation next week.

Thanks for stopping by~!

Angel said...

me too!!! I LOVED summer...getting up early, grabbing a Poptart and running outside to be withmy friends...soemtiems we'd fight like carzy, and other times we'd play till it was dark out...the lightning bugs...the mosquitoes.....ahhhhh, to be a kid again.

Joe said...

nice post, eve...

Soge shirts said...

Summer is awesome. I occasionally enjoy a beach day so I can be immature and non adult again. In my teens i used to surf during the summer every day. How sweet no responsibilities were. Good post Eve.

neutron said...

"That some choices beget other choices. That some roads can't be found if they're not taken the first time." ... And that other roads never lead back to the way they came from.

This is a beautiful yet painful post. I'll be thinking about it for some time to come.