Sweet Summertime

Summer is just so thick with nostalgia. I can't think of summer without associating it with childhood - because really: the 2 go hand in hand.
Early on it was K-Mart jelly shoes, spinning around in the yard with a sparkler on the 4th of July, popsicles, running through sprinklers, & catching fireflies in mason jars.
Later, summer became cut-off shorts, flip flops, bologna sandwiches, listening to the radio late at night with the windows open & listening to the hum of crickets between songs.
Later still, I remember ceiling fans, cotton sheets, sweet tea, making airwaves out car windows, & watching my shadow grow longer across sidewalks.
I'm not sure of the exact moment that it happened, but summer became nostalgia. By May each year, I'm ready to pull my flip flops from the back of the closet. I busy myself washing the thin cotton sheets, throwing them on the bed to air dry under the ceiling fan. Soon after I'm brewing sweet tea, slicing lemon wedges -- dusting off the rocking chair so I can sit & enjoy it - all the while summer songs are playing like a soundtrack on the radio.
It's an annual ritual; a learned response over the years: tasks to perform, songs to sing - all in honor of summer.
As a kid, summer equaled freedom; long languid days, heat rising off the asphalt, time to savor every moment because while some days passed lazily like slow moving traffic -- you'd blink & miss it all.
I smile in rememberance when the grill is going in the evening & the fireflies start appearing, when "Boys of Summer" comes on the radio, the way the flip flops I've had since I was 14 years old molds to my feet perfectly. It's all so familar & so welcoming.
I invite summer back each year with open arms as my oldest, dearest friend who shares (& keeps!) my greatest secrets; my inifinite moments. I tell summer to pull up a rocking chair & grab some of that sweet tea because we have a lot of catching up to do.
---& it's good to know that frozen lemonade cups & running through sprinklers is just as fun at age 24 as it was at age 8. {a celebration of SummeR}
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Here's my favorite summer photo from last year - taken in Lapakahi State Park on the Big Island:















So now I wanna hear from you! Head over to Kyra Leseberg Photography on Facebook & "like" the page if you haven't already! Then, e-mail me at kyraleseberg@yahoo.com telling me your favorite thing about summer! I'll pick an entry Sunday, June 19th to win a free half hour photo session redeemable any time before July 31st!