Summer is floating belly up down a creek in the company of friends. It is digging your feet into the bottom of Lake Michigan and letting the waves rock your worries away. It is climbing to the top of the wooden rail, looking down into the water, and taking the leap into its cool embrace. It is having a mini spaz attack when you feel fish rub up against your legs as they make their way down the stream. It is a red back, neck, and shoulders because you forgot the sunscreen in all the excitement.

Summer is the taste of wild blackberries you find while biking through the woods. It is the icy first drink of lemonade after a day of riding in the sun. It is relishing the few spots of shade the trees overhanging the path provide. It is stopping to watch a doe and her fawn grazing in the field. It is the path that is downhill, both ways, and not through ten feet of snow. It is a soaked through shirt drenched with the sweat of hard work and fun times. It is two wheels and one rider and nothing more.

Summer is the satisfying plunk of a bobber hitting the water after a perfect cast. It is the quiet of the lake on a calm, pastel morning. It is struggling with a fish that you swear is going to be a big one and discovering it isn't even the size of your hand. It is letting your legs hang over the edge of the boat and skim on the water's surface. It is getting back home after spending the day out on the water and recounting how the fish you caught was "this big." It is cooking up a six inch bluegill for dinner because gosh darn it you are the apex predator and are going to prove it.

Summer is spending an hour trying to figure out how to put up your tent only to decide you want to sleep out under the stars. It is being hypnotized by the dancing flames of a campfire. It is forgetting the skewers for roasting hot dogs so you go old school and roast them on a stick. It is getting eaten alive by mosquitoes and laughing about your misery with your fellow campers for the next week. It's setting your marshmallows on fire so the inside is perfectly toasty for your s'mores.

Summer is being forced against your will to go outside by your parents because it's "too nice to stay inside." It's everyone going to that one kid's house who has the pool and questioning your morals because you really only hang out with them during the summer. It's setting up a lemonade stand to make a quick buck only to realize that lemonade stands don't bring in a big profit.

Summer is what you make of it.