I love summer. Ok, I know what you're saying, it's not really summer, it's only April. And while I know that, the 77 degree weather here lately has been fooling my senses. Driving home today from a doctor's appointment at five p.m. I had a sudden flashback. I was thirteen again, riding bikes everywhere with my two best friends ever (and one of their boyfriends) : ). And then I realized, actually, the trip back in time went farther than that...these were memories of every summer I had ever spent here...each one different, and yet the feeling is the same. One I'm never sure that I will ever feel again. Maybe you know it...you've spent all day swimming....alternating from the scorching heat and the cool respite of the lake. When you first got there, the crowd was minimal, letting you chose the very best spot for you and your friends. Timid, wary of the cold water, each one of you giggles, "No, you go first" "No way, You go!" "How cold do you think it will be?" Then, finally, one of you gets the guts to get in first. (This was always me...letting my friends go back and forth, ignoring their banter, and going for it at the second they least expect it.) And oh, the feeling. Your skin, parched and raspy from the heat, drinks in the cool, perfect rapture of the water. You float for a minute...wondering how you ever got this far in the day without being here. You vow, the next day it's this hot, you are coming here first thing in the morning. As you sink into the water, it almost takes on a different form...it becomes less water and more....real. If you were brave, like me, you'd open your eyes and see a new world under the waves. It was quiet here, cool. Above the surface there were boats, children, laughing, screaming, constant jet skis buzzing like oversized hummingbirds, but under here, it was silent, it was your own. A cool, silent calm, a stark contrast to the scintillating heat above. You'd make your way to the dock, half-heartedly dog-paddling, wishing in vain that you could somehow train your body to forever stay in this world. I could never stand it, staying on the dock. It bothered me...why stay out here, when I could be in there. So there I would go again, pencil diving off the wooden dock...first pausing, perching on the side and concentrating on the warmth from the sun leaving the timbers and entering my feet. Down, down would I go, into the green calm...touching, if I was lucky, the massive, rusted pipe leftover from the days when the neighborhood received it's water from the lake. I never wanted to come back up, so I would compromise, swimming underwater, pulling myself farther and farther away from the dock, to the middle, where there was nobody...where I could be alone and enjoy. There I would float, marveling at the difference between above and below the surface....listening to the people above, then my heartbeat below. I would stay there until exhaustion set in, then I'd head for the dock, knowing I would be back in as soon as my body would allow. At the end of the day would come that magical feeling, the one that haunts my soul now...the one of rememberance. Your body, now hot and stable, remembering the feeling of floating, rocking with the cool waves. Your mind, reeling and relaxed at once, in a pleasant "off" mode, happy to be anywhere, as long as anywhere is right here, right now. I wonder why, now, that this is the memory I hold the closest. In a word, it's bliss. Floating in and out of your head are milkshakes and slurpies, fried chicken and burgers. Anywhere you'd go, for the rest of the day, you'd know that you had had the best day possible. Your hair might smell of lake, oddly dirty and clean at the same time, your muscles relaxed and tired and your brain, lazy, blissful. Then, maybe the movies, maybe a friend's house, maybe your own backyard, watching the colors in the sky the sun left behind in it's hurry to escape it's own heat. The stars peep out, rewarding you for staying, watching for so long. Then, in a breath, it's night. Not a cold night, or one to be feared, but one, even in it's chill, reminds you of the day. "Remember the heat? Remember the fun?" And, because it's summer, it's not only a reminder of the day you had, but a promise of the one to come. I love summer.
