Wednesday, July 15, 2009

The Boys of Summer: A Reflective Essay

I asked this question the other day on facebook...do any of you ever get especially sentimental, feel nostalgic, or fanticize or daydream more in the summer? I find that every summer I turn into a pile of drippy daydreams as I pull out the old yearbooks, high school pictures, old love letters, and the like, and I'm downloading my favorite summer cruising music: "Boys of Summer" by Don Henley, "Endless Summer Nights" by Richard Marx, "Rub You the Right Way" by Johnny Gill, "Father Figure" by George Michael, "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaacs, and "Summer Lovin" from "Greece".

Why, I do this is a mystery to me. Maybe, as my friend Lisa pointed out, I don't have enough to keep me busy. I am a teacher (or was) and have every summer off, so that's plausible. But I've been home with a baby all year and never felt this way. And we all know how your poor, tired, sleep deprived brain can wander away while you're mindlessly rocking a baby, feeding a baby, changing a baby, and staying up all hours of the night with a baby. I don't EVEN want to tell you where my mind has gone during these times. I never knew I had such an imagination! But never, in all the doldrum (spelling???), did I get as sentimental and daydreamy as I do in the summer.

Slumber parties with my girls where we would eat pizza and Doritos and gossip and talk (and cry) about boys brings back a lot of great memories. I dream of a time when I had nothing to worry about except what color nail polish I would wear when my friend Tonya and I would go cruising with the sunroof back in her cute little red Corolla. We couldn't wait to see the guy in the blue Dodge Daytona...we called him "Sun God" because he had this amazing tan! I loved getting out in my parents' red Pontiac Grand Prix and just driving and driving. This is still what I do when I have time to myself...I just drive and listen to music and sing, sing, sing!

Driving around makes me think of the boys I went out with and the fun times we had in the summer. I'm from a very rural, appalachian, coal mining town, and needless to say, there aint a lot for teenagers to do! It's a wonder I didn't get into more trouble than I did! All there was to do if you were (pretty) good kids, was shine up your car, turn on your stereo and go cruise around. Boys and summer love is something I look back on with a lot of fondness because it was an exciting and sweetly innocent time. Those memories make me smile.

My husband and I dated during several different summers...and I usually broke up with him after the summer ended. He was not "serious relationship" material to me at the time, but he was fun to hang out with and treated me very well. We would drive around and listen to music really loud, and sing really loud, and park and make out, and sneak in after curfew! Ah, to be young and in love! But after the summer was over, it was back to school, back to life, back to reality! And a lot of times, those "summer loves" fell by the wayside.

And then there were those relationships that sort of swept you up so fast, you were out to sea before you knew it! One minute you're friends, the next, you're calling each other every 5 minutes and making each other lovey mix tapes and sneaking off to be together. One such summer romance as I recall, was not such a good idea. Was it the heat, the smell of the intoxicatingly sweet honeysuckle flowers, or the false sense of freedom that made it all feel so right? I guess I'll really never know. This relationship, like the brilliant fireworks it was, burned up as fast as it sparked up. But that relationship changed me forever. I think of that time in my life and feel quite sad. I had changed. I didn't know who I was. I was growing up...maybe a little too fast. Yes, that summer was a difficult one, but I learned a lot about what I wanted and didn't want for my life.

Ultimately, it led me back to my sweet husband. I realized after that tumultuous relationship that no one cared about me like he did. He had shown me what true love really was and I couldn't get back to him fast enough! And he, my dear husband, has been my number one hot summer love ever since!

We've had some amazing summer flings over the years that far surpass any I had before! (hey I AM a married woman ya'll...and SHOULDN'T we be talking this way about our men?) I look forward to daydreaming about him for many more summers to come!

So, as the summer slowly melts away like ice in my lemonade, I'll put away my yearbooks, high school pictures and love letters and get back to the here and now, where I'm older, wiser, and quite different from that girl driving away in her red car jamming to "Smells Like Teen Spirit!" But it's cozy here in the present and I'm comfortable.

How do all ya'll out in blogland feel about this? Are you a summer sap? This time of the year, do you feel extra sentimental and think back to those carefee days of your youth (or am I the only one)? Do you sit out in your porch swing on a hot day with a little fan in hand and dream away? What do you dream about? Let me know what you're thinkin'? This could be fun!

Until next time!

3 comments:

  1. I am typically a very sentimental person anyway, regardess of the time of the year! LOL!

    I guess I have gotten too old to daydream about anything except home improvement and possibly moving into our "dream house" one day! LOL!

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  2. Angie, you are a very good blogger! You should write for a magazine!! I have enjoyed reading your postings. I am trying my hand at blogging myself. I have a blog on blogspot that I am putting the finishing touches on. I'll let you know when I'm satisfied with it. Anyway, keep up the great postings!!

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  3. Have a GREAT fun filled summer-making new memories with your baby.
    Cheri
    www.itssoverycheri.blogspot.com

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