That summer I always had the wind in my hair. We drove down highways and country roads with the windows down. Swam at the 'secret spot'. Sat on the front porch hoping to catch a breeze. That was a summer of freedom. Of late night drives and heat lightening. Making money and spending it as soon as it hit your wallet. I remember laughing so hard that tears came, living so hard that now it seems impossible that it was seven years ago.
That summer I scooped ice cream. Cliched no? Shirts smelled of sour milk, belly sour from too many 'samples'. A crazy boss and a best friend. Cute boys and annoying tourists. Really, it was like a Lifetime movie, without the tragic crippled girl or the child molester. After work I'd walk down the street, see whose car was there. Hop in one and head off into the night. A hot sauna one night, swimming naked in the cool river the next. My friends never far behind. Stopping home long enough to change clothes, pick up a dry towel and grab a bite to eat.
Potluck suppers. A handful of this and a palmful of that; dinner. Making California Rolls in the old farmhouse kitchen. One last shot of Jagermeister. Tea in the morning after a huge breakfast of eggs, potatoes and toast. Raiding the fridge at a friend's house--the leftovers were the best there and always left for us. Hitting McDonald's breakfast if we were lucky. Eating the bananas for splits if we weren't.
I was invincible that summer. Fast and flowing like the river we swam in. I could go anywhere and be anything. We were all young, but felt as if we owned the world and owed it nothing. It was the last summer we were all at the same place, in the same time. That fall we went our separate directions, spread out all over the globe. Crazy thing is, when we get together I can still smell the sun of that summer, feel the wind in my hair. It was what they call a 'Golden Summer.' Cliched and a story told a hundred times before. But when I think of summer I think of that one. Of sand in my bathing suit, malts, long drives down winding roads. And how lucky to have memories such as those.
When was your 'Golden Summer'?
What made it so special?
Sounds pretty heavenly.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about my golden summer when I was in Dallas. I spent two months there before I moved to LA. Not sure how I financed it but I spent all my time sleeping and going out dancing at night. And dating a total pretty boy (I was horrified to find NO BOOKS in his apartment).
I once dated a pretty boy that took WAY longer to get ready than I did, not that it's hard to beat 5 minutes... :)
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