Summertime Happiness
Summertime Happiness is Hawaii
Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. ~ John Lubbock
I can feel the summer coming to an end, and with it of course summertime happiness. There was just a whiff of fall that I caught on the air during a bike ride this weekend. That smell does a couple of things for me, first it triggers my reduction in shaving and the beginnings of the growing of a fall beard. That meant a lot more when I lived in colder climates but it is a tradition I have kept up. I love the fall, it has always been the most exciting part of the year for me. When I was a kid it signaled school starting and I loved going to school, it also came to mean hunting season and the start of the NFL season.
However today I want to talk about summer, about the simple joys of being a kid in summer. What triggered my post tonight was a sound, a simple sound that I knew instantly what it was but couldn’t quite place. It was a tune, I listened and after a bit it came to me it was Scott Joplin’s, The Entertainer. More importantly it was being played on an ice cream truck and yes all I could hear in my head was the exasperated childhood voice screaming, “ice cream man!” I remember that sound from childhood, our ice cream man was named Pete, it’s a bit of summertime happiness that is a memory that always makes me smile.
Summertime Happiness is Reading
It also brought back memories of swimming for 10 hours a day in my Uncle Mike’s pool, hours hanging around on the local city playgrounds, the feeling of ice-cold water pouring down my throat when I was sweating and hot and lots of hours reading books I wanted to, not what they assigned in school. I thought back to hours of laying on my back on a moss-covered rock in the woods staring at the sky. Those moments so common as children are so precious and fleeting now in our complex lives.
So tonight, take a moment and think about those moments, relax and smile. Even more importantly find a moment tomorrow or this week to relive one of those happy, happy moments.
One last thing to help you smile tonight, a little piece of music that to me is quintessential summertime, enjoy.
Have a happy day my friend ~ Rev Kane
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