connections, memories

summertime

etikser

Tangled memories and twisted connections.

There’s this thing about summer. It lives in our soul. It’s a memory (a feeling?) lingering from years back, an emotional synapse connecting the warm days and nights of the past with the present.

Growing up, many summers ago, I slept with windows open on both sides of the room (before AC, we had cross-ventilation), and a nighttime breeze would blow in from the outside and over the sheets. A cooling, soothing breeze to lull me to sleep. Gentle as an unexpected afternoon nap.

On one of those nights I saw the outline of my leg in the dark under the sheets, and thought it was a snake. A  big snake…as big as my leg. It scared me enough I can still remember it today, and I realized back then, even in that childish moment, how silly it was. How foolish I was.

I got scared outside tonight. Scared of what? I was scared an animal would come at me out of the dark. I was scared I’d lean back too far, looking for stars, I’d lose my balance and fall backward. Pretty foolish stuff.

Summer evenings aren’t all tenderness, nighttime prayers, gentle rains, and comforting breezes. The livin’ ain’t always easy. But it’s all there, isn’t it, not far from the surface of our psyche, the screen doors and street lights, fireflies, distant thunder, and silly childish fears. We muddle our way through life and find it all, unexpectedly at times, still tucked away where we left it, memories and juvenile emotions, and part of  the grown up person we are today. It all lives in our soul.

Summertime by George Gershwin, DuBose Heyword, and Ira Gershwin.
My previous post on Summertime, the song: https://etikser.home.blog/2020/05/28/summertime/

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They may not be used elsewhere or reblogged.

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16 thoughts on “summertime”

    1. It seemed that way to me too. Now it seems to go so fast. However, I think I used to be ready when it was time for school to re-start. I think I wanted to connect with friends I hadn’t seen all summer.

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  2. Good words! I am almost 65 and recall memories of riding bikes with my friends at night or just walking and feeling afraid that something would jump out in front of me, nothing ever did but a friend and I saw a space ship, I still 150% believe that that is what it was. I ran like the wind for home!

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    1. Thanks so much. There was that time when we were all seeing UFOs, so maybe…. Similar, but not scary, my sister and I genuinely heard Santa’s reindeer on the roof one Christmas. It was some time later we learned it was my mom putting clean silverware away in the kitchen. So we weren’t totally imagining things. We laughed about it for years.

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    1. Thank you. I have to admit I spent some time looking for the right picture and I was looking for something very ‘green’. I’ve always joked about being afraid in my own backyard at night. I doubt there is anything too ferocious out there.

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  6. Wonderful memories of how it was when we were kids in the summer time. I like how we can just think of those days and remember it so well. Love all the green in your photo. We just don’t have that around here. 🙂

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    1. Yes, I could see in Maine you wouldn’t need the AC so much. The sun goes down, and you probably cool off. It does seem the temps are getting more brutal everywhere now. All in all, if it’s cool enough, I’d rather have an open window at night with all the outdoor sounds.

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