Happy Summer!

The beads of sweat forming out of nowhere on my forehead as I amble along the hot pavement each carry a miniature picture of a hot and sticky day of the past, a little scene of somewhere else, someone else, another feeling, another time. Summer days never come alone.

The relief of a cold shower at the end of a long day and the crisp crunch of fresh vegetables with dinner each represent little snapshots of another kind of refreshment on another day, a jump in the waterfall, maybe, or a jaunt through the sprinkler. Because summer days never come alone.

Sitting in traffic, alternating the AC with the windows, trying to save a buck while regretting the added bonus of leather seats, my mind strays to other times, an afternoon spent in the woods, embracing the shade and all its coolness, craving the eternity that never was to be. For summer days never come alone.

Nights when the sun sets empty handed, trailing none of the day’s heat home with it, I am taken right back there, sitting around a ringed campfire in the dark and hanging heat, or lounging on the grass, swatting at bugs, waiting for the fireworks to start. And I remember that summer days never come alone.

It is a fixed definition, a straight line that never wavers, a set of associations that will stay forever. It is summer, and it is here. And it never comes alone.

How could I feel the burning of the sand beneath the soles of my feet without the thought of scurrying across the pool parking lot barefoot, jumping from painted line to painted line, aiming for Mom’s car and the ride home? I can’t, because summer never comes alone.

No, I can’t taste the sweet crunch of watermelon in my mouth and the rush of its cool pinkness without the all too present yet all too faraway scene of a seed-spitting contest, right there, in the forefront of my mind. No, there is no way to separate it. Summer never comes alone.

Every tick of the thermometer is a glimpse of the past and every adventure into nature is a venture also into my mind, where a little memory is attached to each and every feeling. They’re the best associations, and they’ll never go away. They're like little snippets of paper that you hold tight in your pocket. They’ll just grow greater, adding more and more as the years go on.


Because summer never comes alone.