Summer is still six months away. Especially at this point in the school year, I need the heat and the summery tunes on the radio. Summer is a time where I feel more relaxed even though I am never fully relaxed.
There is only one bad part of summer, which is its end, but the good parts about summer far outweigh the bad, the sad, and the ugly tears streaming down my face as school begins.
1. The warm weather
2. Making money
3. Having money
4. Not having the stress of school
5. Not having to drive everywhere
6. Having more time on my hands
7. Eating ice cream at least once or twice per week
8. Sleeping under the stars
9. The feeling that anything is possible in those three short months
10. The sunshine
11. Summer rain storms
12. Not having frost on my car windows every morning
13. Shorts
14. Tank tops
15. Summer dresses
16. Summer skirts
17. Dress shoes
18. Wearing aviator sunglasses everywhere
19. Doing something or not doing anything all day
20. Driving with the windows rolled down
21. Late night Wal-Mart trips
22. Starbucks summer frappuccino flavors
23. Sleeping in every day
24. Blasting music in the kitchen while doing dishes
25. The seemingly endless supply of watermelon in my fridge
26. Backyard family dinners
27. Beach vacations
28. Not having to wear a coat every day
29. Day trips to the zoo
30. Staying up all night and not having to worry about being too tired for the next day
31. Somehow being skinnier than I am in the winter even though I eat way more food in the summer
32. The chirping crickets
33. The sunsets that are around 9:45 every night
34. The fact it is still as bright as noon at 7:00 P.M.
35. Not always being cold
36. Not having to wear socks all the time
37. Being barefoot all day
38. The smell of freshly cut grass
39. Bonfires
40. Smores
41. Tanlines
42. Freckles
43. Not having to wake up to alarms every morning
44. The breeze from the A/C upon walking into the house
45. Grocery shopping to pass the time
46. The scents the summer air gives to my nose
47. Saying goodbye to jeans for a while
48. Having enough time in the morning to braid my hair
49. Hanging out with my friends and family who go away to school
50. Seeing my parents because I hardly ever see them during the school year
In wind ensemble during the first semester of my sophomore year in high school, we played a song by Larry Daehn titled As Summer Was Just Beginning (Song for James Dean). "As summer was just beginning" is an epitaph from a painting about a young person dying, as their life was just beginning.
James Dean, being only twenty-four when he died, was just starting his life. It ended in the same way that summer ends: as summer was seriously just beginning.
Ever since the year I played this song, every year during summer break, I think about this song. To this very day whenever I listen to it, I feel that same emotional connection to the song I felt in high school and wish for more summer, knowing it could never happen but still being thankful I had the three short months of fun.
