lazy days of summer...where did they go?

I love summer! Barbeques, watermelon, corn on the cob, homemade ice-cream. Just the word "summer" conjures up memories from my childhood, those good ol' days when summers weren't spent inside a air-conditioned 60 degrees, where's my sweater and why do we have to freeze in the middle of summer, office building. Summers as a child meant running through the sprinklers, then laying down on the hot cement to get warm, drinking in the scent of wet concrete...hmmm, I love that smell...and everytime I get a whiff of that intoxicating scent I'm reminded of my days as a youth. 4th of July parades with neighborhood kids marching up and down the sidewalks banging the lids of pans. Selling lemonade in Melinda's carport so we could make enough money to buy slurpees at 7-11. Learning how to sew, to cook, and to garden every summer as "The Sprouting Clovers" at 4-H with my best friends. Summers spent at Lisa and Laurels cabin in Midway, pretending to be olympic synchronized swimmers at the Homestead pool. Walking up to the meadow, singing songs about the beautiful world, true love and the magic of fairies. Sleepovers with friends and cousins under the stars, making wishes on the falling ones. Shelling peas, snapping beans, canning cherries and peaches while Mom patiently wiped the sticky floors and scrubbed cherry juice stains off our clothes. Sneaking into the neighbors yard to jump on their trampoline, and sneaking out at night to toilet paper. Yep, those were the good ol' days.
But seasons come and go, and with the passing of time and the graduation of school, summer kinda lost it's magic. Work replaced those lazy days of nothingness, shorts and swimsuits were replaced by dresspants and heels. Lemonade stands replaced by 10 minute breaks at the water cooler, sun-bathing replaced by sweat bathing driving home in an un-airconditioned car. And 3-month summer vacations became 1 week off work, usually taken up by church service.

Aahh, but then children came along...

...and the magic appeared once more!