Summer Memories

I was just thinking today about some of my favorite girlhood summer memories. I don't know why, but I was totally taken back.

We used to love thunderstorms. The four of us would beg my Mom to let us put our bathing suits on so we could run out and play in the street. With the water whooshing over our feet at the bottom of the driveway we would play forever and we would love to stand under the gutters because there was so much rain that they would overflow and be like our very own waterfall. My Dad would always get us excited about the storms because we would have to go out on the porch and smell the air right before a big rainstorm. Everyone should try it. It is the most amazing thing! I think everything is so heightened then. Everything smells better, cleaner, and more vibrant. Just like you are sitting on the cusp on something big. It was magical.

Another favorite thing was catching lightening bugs. We would go out together, all of us, and look into the nightime summer sky, just before bed, in our little nightgowns, and watch as little lights would appear all over the yard. I still remember the feeling of the grass under my toes and the sight of the lights as you try to follow them even when they stop blinking. Just maybe, you would catch one. It was like a dance. We would always want to have one in our hand. My Dad would always make sure we got to hold one, if only just for a minute. It was so amazing...it seemed like we were the only people in the world at that very minute. And God had made it all for us.

One of the other greatest summer feelings was sleeping at my Mema's on vacation. We would go to the beach almost every summer and stay with my grandparents. And each night as I got into bed, I remember the feeling of sand in the sheets. Not a lot, but just a few little granuals. It was bad and good. It sometimes made my legs itchy, and sometimes it was just the right amount to remind me of what fun was in store for us in the morning. To this day, I can still feel the sand sometimes.

I just love the senses of the seasons....do you have any great memories....share!!