It's summer! I am so excited! It is my very favorite season of the year. It only has one thing wrong with it...it doesn't last!
When I was a little girl I can remember thinking summer would never end. It went on and on and on, and then we had the extra blessing of Indian Summer. I was in my finest hours when I was outside, either playing with my friends or just hanging out inventing things to do by myself. It didn't matter...it was summer.
Some days were terribly busy, with so many things to do and places to go, and people to visit. We would go from home to home, from store to store, sometimes from town to town, just to be outside and moving! Daddy would close his tailor shop up on Thursdays so we could go to the lake or a local park, or just to take a ride in the countryside.
I remember that our local theater held what we called 'free shows', every Wednesday afternoon. It was great, because we got to see a serial, one of those shorts, like with Buster Crabbe or Tarzan. We also got a feature film. And then we always had a drawing or two from our ticket stubs. Don't think I ever won anything, but it didn't matter. It was all free!
Some days we just didn't do anything at all. It was either too hot, or there just wasn't anything to do. But I had my collie, Sandy, and I had the woods at the end of our street. It was always cooler sitting up on top of the big rocks. There were two of them, and they had been named long before my time, by other kids who had done the same things we did. One was called Little Turtle, and the other was Big Turtle. You could sit on either one and see the homes below, as well as other parts of town. Big Turtle even had a cave you could crawl through. In one side, out the other! What fun all that was.
I can remember days at the lake, days at camp, and days riding horses. We used to ride our bikes all over town and even out into the country. Sometimes we would just hang out on each others porches and drink Kool-Aid. And then there were the days we would walk uptown, and just window shop and watch the 'much older' college students, looking forward with excitement to the day we would be their age and in college.
From the last day of school till the beginning of September, life was wonderful. I was always skinny and tan in the summer. I tended to put a little more weight on the rest of the year, just as I do now! But when the school term loomed in front of us, and the leaves began their slow turn to other colors, the relaxed feeling that had hold of us all summer long began to fade. Reality would hit, and sometimes hit hard.
As summer faded, and the nights grew cooler, we knew school would start soon. Shopping for new clothes and supplies helped occupy us, and we began to look forward to seeing friends we had not seen since summer began. But we also felt sad, like we were losing something. Something precious, something memories are made of..
Life is like that, even now. Yes, I still love summer the best. I am more active, I see my grandkids for longer periods, I go to the ocean and to the mountains. I love it. But I also know now that each season has it's wonders, and that if we did not have them, we would not experience the revival of the earth each spring, or the beautiful color show in the autumn. Winter days with freshly falling snow on the ground can simply bless my socks off. Rainy days in the spring remind me of God's plan to replenish the earth.
God Himself reminds me of His promises to each and every one of us. He is always here, He loves us, and He created this wonderful temporary home for us, with all it's seasons and it's wonders, this place called earth.
It's summertime! It will not last, just like when I was a kid. But God's love and devotion to us will last. His faithfulness, and the beauty He puts before us each and every day will always be with us. Enjoy it now. See the beauty,and the power it holds. It is His. And He shares it with you and me.
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