I knew what I would greet when I opened the
front door this morning. summer. summer in aaall of its southern virginia
glory. at 8 a.m., it was already 82 degrees. add in the humidity & it
already felt like 90. I considered taking the time to trade in my hot coffee
for the iced coffee variety. No, not enough time. I slid my hooded jacket off
the coat rack since the office is usually cold & my phone was telling me to
expect thunderstorms right about the time that I would be walking back to my
car at the end of the day. the rain almost always waits until about 4:50 p.m.
before it pours, it seems. bring it on, I
thought.
as I tugged open the door & took my first
step into the day, I was filled with summer. wednesday was technically the
first day of summer, I know that, but my head has been in 348 places this week,
& this morning was my first acknowledgement that summer has arrived. &
not only was summer staring me in the face, but there was this nostalgia factor
that I wasn’t expecting.
it felt distinctly like a high school summer
day. one of those mornings that I should have slept in until at least 10 a.m.
because I stayed up until way-too-late-o-clock for absolutely no reason. one of
those mornings that you just go straight to bathing suit, regardless of whether
or not the day’s plans involve water. & after I finally rolled out of bed
& into a swimsuit, I’d promptly roll myself to the couch to turn on the tv
& watch a What Not to Wear marathon or Dawson’s Creek reruns until the pool
demanded my attention so loudly that I couldn’t ignore it.
instead, I congratulated myself on the choice
to leave my hair in its natural state rather than wage war with the humidity,
armed with a straightener whose defeat would have been imminent upon opening
the door. because professionals don’t have frizzy hair. or something.
it’s a funny thing – growing up, the loss of
summer. most days, it’s the gradual acceptance of adulthood that it’s supposed
to be. but some days, it’s tough! the daily grind? it’s pretty daily. &
grind-y.
I’m leaving next weekend for a visit with my best friend over the 4th of July. it's our favorite holiday. it always has been, since our little town in Indiana celebrates it the best. I haven’t seen her since the day after my
wedding, & we’re going to talk about her
wedding the entire time I’m there. I need to see her - this girl who I used to
spend my summers with who now wears a ring on her finger. the perfect
best-friend-who-lives-next-door that spent hours braiding my hair in her
backyard as we lazed around on her family’s hammock. swaying under the two
giant oak trees that separated our backyards. exhausted from bike rides to
& from the neighborhood pool with freeze pops stuffed into our pockets. we’re
planning her wedding to her prince, & I get to finally meet him. how many
conversations did we share about him surrounded by mosquitos & fireflies?
summer is not all lost. some mornings, I do still roll right into my
bathing suit to spend the day under an umbrella at the beach. but the bonus to
growing up is that my prince is at my
side, which trumps poolside with the family pooches any day.
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