On the way to work, I pass a public pool in a little public park. It is a very cute place, and very inviting, as public pools go. I was late out to work today, and I saw a sizable group of teenagers milling about, waiting to get in. It reminded me of when I was a teenager spending all and every day of summer at the pool. We lived in a large apartment complex, with a nice pool. I would wake up, a little later every day, call over to my best friend, pack some lunch, playing cards, a towel, and head out to the pool. Aahh. That is summer.
This is a great memory. But an even better memory is the annual trip to the beach. My parents like to go the same place every year, on the Delaware shore. The years are all blurred together, but I remember riding the waves and playing putt-putt with my cousin, flying kites, glow sticks (before you could get them in every Dollar Store), the smell of newly pressed iron-ons on new T-shirts and jerseys, pizza and cheese subs, playing cards on the hotel room balcony, riding bikes on the boardwalk, book outlets, shell necklaces, fresh peaches from farm stands, the smell of the ocean... That is heaven.
I hope to get to the beach this summer. I don't think I'm taking any kind of vacation this summer ("vacation"????? I think I vaguely remember what that word means), mostly I'm moving stuff around. I'm moving, did I mention that? I am moving from one house that is on sale to a second house that is on sale. I feel like that should be a metaphor for something, but I'm not sure what.
I have gone to a couple "garage sales", saw a lot of thing I might have gotten, except for the thought "I will be on the move again soon. Do I really want more stuff to shlep?" I plan to make do for a while longer with minimum. It will be so nice to have PLENTY of space for everything I have now.
I am at the library tonight, and I want to look around. This is just a composite of things that were floating around my head. Maybe I will edit it more tomorrow -- find the obvious Calvin Hobbes that belongs to the paragraph above.
I love snow, babies, my new shoes. But summer is good too.
I sit outside early in the morning and study..and see all these kids making their way to camp, families packing up for a day at the beach, kids heading to 7-11 for a slurpee and a day of carefree bliss..and i stare wistfully for a few seconds before i turn back to my notes..
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