I can't remember the last time I had a full night's rest and feel like a ZOMBIE!!!! With that in mind, please pardon my random rambling!!
Though it's still officially spring here in Tulsa, summer temps have hit with a vengeance. Along with freakishly hot weather came the requisite broken AC unit and fleas. This year, as an added bonus, I've landed my first case of poison ivy. JOY!! LOL!!!
I used to love summer. I rode my bike all over town. South Haven, Michigan was the most idyllic place ever to be a kid. Lake Michigan beach, great friends, a couple of abandoned resorts and a draw bridge kept me plenty busy. Looking back on it, I'm sure there were sunburns and mosquitoes, but I was too busy having fun to worry about them.
When I was in sixth grade, we moved to Arkansas. As a former city kid, it took me a while to adjust, but soon enough I was swimming in cattle ponds, hiking in the woods and playing night tag with new friends. Did I ever once worry about chiggers, snakes or ticks? Nope. All I cared about was finding my next fun.
So here I sit in my fave green chair, scratching like crazy, watching my dogs scratch like crazy--they didn't get the memo that they've been treated for fleas and are now flea-fee--and I'm wondering when did I stop loving summer and start loathing it? How do I reconnect with the little girl inside of me who used to adore long, hot days and all of their enticing possibilities?
The very question makes me sad. With my newly graduated kids still sleeping and hubby long since gone to work, this Monday doesn't feel like I remember a summer Monday should. I have no grand adventure planned. No friends will stop by, and even if they did, my bike has flat tires and cobwebs!!
Usually, we join the neighborhood pool, but with the kids soon off to college, they all voted against the pricey fee. After all, who has time for lounging poolside with a cool drink and good book?
Wait a minute--THEY voted. Not ME!! Maybe what I'm forgetting is that even if my kids don't want to go to the pool, I'm still allowed. As an incentive, I used to write in the morning and if I got my pages completed, I'd wile away my afternoons not creating books, but losing myself in them!!
As I'm writing, my Benadryl has finally kicked in. As an added bonus, all three dogs are peacefully napping--not scratching. Okay, whew . . . I feel a little better. Hopeful, even, that summer might yet be saved. Maybe Little Laura isn't totally lost, but just hiding. With my own pool membership to entice her, she might even venture out into the heat to play.
How about you? Feeling too grown-up for summer? Share some tips with me on how you have warm weather fun!!
4 comments:
My summers in the Pacific Northwest---20 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean--are not real hot. I spend my summer relaxing on the back deck reading or tending my flowers.
Estella--I'm thinking I may need to join you up there!! By August, my poor potted flowers need watering twice a day!! Have fun!!
It's hot here in St. Louis too. I'm used to Idaho summers. So this is way different.
Glad you invested in your own pool membership. Sometimes we need to take care of ourselves. A lesson hard to learn.
Laura,
I have so been where you are. I think I'm a little bit there right now too. But like you, I'm still looking for that little girl with a falling down ponytail and freckles who thought her heart was going to jump out of her chest each summer when our family crossed the causeway onto Galveston Island. First glimpse of the ocean and I could not sit still. Let's never let that child in us get lost.
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