Thursday, July 16, 2015

Summer: A Retrospective


Why does every year feel like the hottest summer ever?  Maybe it's just that I'm older.  Or maybe they are getting hotter, but this isn't a post on global warming.  I think we all know that's a farce perpetrated by Al Gore, the liberal media, most scientists, and the melting polar ice caps.

We're working on our 7th day of 96-degrees-plus.  Haven't hit triple digits yet, though we're hopeful for the weekend.  It gives us something to watch for, and helps break up the monotony of treating ourselves for signs of heat stroke.

I imagine it was like being on the Ark on day 39 of rain, and Noah's wife was probably like, "Dude, I'm so over rain."  But Noah was probably like, "Eh, the house is already a total loss, I'm gonna have to go to the Apple merchant to get a new abacus, may as well go for an even forty at this point."

A midsummer night's storm passed through Tuesday evening, providing a brief respite from the heat and bringing a few small tornadoes to neighboring counties.  The worst we got was having someone's trampoline blown into the road in front of my house.

It wasn't always like this.  Was it?  Summer used to seem cooler.  Plenty warm, for sure, but not my-internal-organs-are-going-to-fry-if-I-stay-outside-more-than-ten-minutes hot.  Anyway, it all got me to thinking about all the things summer used to be.  If you'll indulge me whilst I wax nostalgic for a moment...  ("As opposed to every other post you've ever written, Bone?")

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Summer was a ballpark.  Lit up six nights a week.  Never on Sunday.  (You were in church then if your momma had raised you right.)  It was something to do in a town that didn't have anything else to do but go to the Hardee's or get up to no good.  I met a few girls there and played a little ball.  I was better at the latter but the former became a lifelong pursuit.

Summer was freedom.  Being out of school.  Every night felt like Friday night.  And that sultry evening air seemed to feed the restlessness.  Windows down, radio up.  Night driving and singing loud to some old summer song.

Summer was morning trips to Mamaw's with Mom.  Taking her into town and having breakfast at the Burger Chef.  Days lived with no real concept of time.  Mom was young, Mamaw was old, and it seemed that they would always be.

Summer was the city pool.  Learning to swim at the ripe old age of... well, is that really relevant here?  The cute lifeguard who unfortunately was too old for you.  (Which, personally, I've come to find I much prefer to them being too young.)

Summer was vacations.  Mostly just to Nashville.  They were small but they were ours.  Mom and Dad were still together.  I'd sit in the back seat and add up the miles between dots in the Rand McNally.  First I got too cool to go, then too old, and then Mom and Dad weren't together anymore.

Summer was time well wasted.  Countless hours spent on video games, hanging out at the mall, riding bikes, trading baseball cards, building forts, playing basketball, or long afternoons simply being bored.  Staying up late and sleeping later.  Some might disagree, but I say remain a kid for as long as possible.  Once the real world takes hold, it doesn't easily let go.

Summer was a song.  A thousand of them, really.  Sometimes sweet and wistful, sometimes upbeat and carefree.  But always, ended too soon.


(One of my thousand favorite summer songs...)


18 comments:

  1. Summer is different now, but you must have not heard the news...The Devil complained of frost in his home because I cooked last night.... and you know, that's pretty major!!! Why cook?? it's summer, let's eat every salad in sight!!! jello salad, pasta salad, chicken & tuna salad, potato salad, even green salad!

    I too, miss the summers of my youth.

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    1. Nice. I was expecting an "It's so hot..." joke when you started out. And just as long as you don't violate your palate or the atmosphere with egg salad, it's all good.

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  2. This summer has been weird for us also... we've been calling it early fall as our temps have not been high at all. I had to break out the sweaters the other day. Hope you had fun with that trampoline. ;)

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    1. I had no idea where the trampoline came from at first. Then the next morning it had been drug, a twisted mess, into the yard across the street. It must have come from their backyard, which has a vinyl fence surrounding it. So I'm guessing it got picked up and carried through the air for a bit.

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  3. Can I have some of your summers as a kid? My summer was walking beans, putting up tens of thousands of bales of hay into barns that made the hot temps outside seem a tad bit chilly, painting the buildings, cultivating the crops on an open tractor and more such chores. I don't think I ever swam in a city pool until I was well into my high school years and that was on a field trip.

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    1. Wow. Sounds a bit like Little House on the Prairie. I think the most I normally had to do was mow the lawn, help with the dishes occasionally, and of course clean my room and such. I feel very spoiled now.

      Tell Albert and Doc Baker I said hello.

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  4. So my summers seem a bit harsher than yours but perhaps someone is making up for it because this summer has been pretty cool up here. We only scratched 90 degrees just once so far which is probably a record.

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  5. I was right wtih you on this and then read Ed's post and felt guilty... You need to check out Armchair Squid's lastest post (it is in my blogroll) as he is writing about a comic book series named "Bone"

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    1. I had never heard of that comic book. Doesn't appear to be based on my life, best I can tell. So I guess no royalties for me.

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  6. long afternoons simply being bored.
    I'm pretty sure kids these days don't know what this means...

    (How old do I sound right now?)

    I love the "Noah (no last name needed) tag."

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    1. One of my favorite things about this post was discovering that I'd used that tag previously on some other post.

      I think you're ok until you start referring to kids as "them young whippersnappers." I figure I'm only 5 to 8 years away from that myself.

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    2. Note to self: refrain from using the phrase "them young whippersnappers."

      This could be difficult.

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  7. What can I say, completely related to this post, it's like we had the same summer except, I can't put a bat on a ball to save my life and we didn't have a Burger Chef. And yes, it does seem to be getting hotter, not sure what to make of that...only that by contrast, we've also had some pretty frigid un-Florida-like winters too!
    Oh, and this might amuse you, in 1991, my last ride in the car family summer vacation was a camping trip to Alabama!

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    1. Yes, the weather extremes seem to be getting more.... extreme?

      Camping in the summer in Alabama? I bet that was toasty.

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  8. We've been going to the beach in the middle of the night--literally 11PM--because you have to be crazy to go earlier. It feels like one continual hot snow day
    I think this is your best post ever. When I reread it I realized it was because of the spacing. How you played with short sentences. Worked great.
    And you're right, the icecaps melting have nothing to do with climate change. Nada.

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    1. Thank you. Compliments from you always mean much.

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  9. In L.A., we're experiencing this thing called "humidity." It's gross and we'd like for it to go away. It's not helping us with the drought.

    Also, wouldn't have pegged you as a Better Than Ezra fan. :)

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  10. Do you not usually have humidity out there? We're getting a good rain about once a week, which keeps the grass growing, which means me having to mow the lawn when it's 95 degrees out.

    Yep, I like a lot of BTE's stuff. I'm curious as to why you wouldn't have thought so.

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