Cruel Summer

Summer is almost over. Hopefully, the oppressive heat will leave with it. It was particularly overwhelming this year due to the loss and sadness that swept through my family. I'm so ready to move on to cool autumn.

I think I liked summer when I was young, although now it’s hard to imagine. At least back then it meant several weeks of freedom from school, now what do we get? Sweat, mosquitoes, wasps…I’m sorry I know there are a lot of summer lovers out there. Although I’m a pretty laid-back type of person (you could say chill) being hot gets on my nerves. I’m thankful every day that we have air conditioning and central air these days. When I was a teenager, I lived with my aunt and uncle, and cousins in a house where the only air conditioner was in the master bedroom. Most of the time it wasn’t a problem because the way houses were built back then allowed for airflow throughout the house. But one summer night when I was 16 it was so hot nobody could sleep except the adults in the frosty cool air conditioning. I was in a yellow t-shirt that said Jimmy across the back. My foster cousin Angie and I shared a room. We were tossing and turning and getting no sleep. Suddenly I jumped to my feet wearing a yellow t-shirt that said "Jimmy" (high school boyfriend) across the back. I startled Angie, “what are you doing?”, she asked suspiciously. Without answering I went downstairs passing my bewildered cousins on my way to the shower.

I turned the cold water on and stepped in; T-shirt was still on. Once my body temperature had reached an acceptable coolness I turned the shower off. Without drying myself I went back up to my room with cousins yelling after me, “you’re dripping on the floor.” As I got back into bed Angie said, “your bed is going to be soaked.” I didn’t answer. I promptly fell asleep. I don’t know if they were brave or foolish enough to follow my lead that night but I would’ve done it again in a heartbeat.

Please don’t get me wrong, summer has some good points. Festivals, parades, and fairs with the smell of elephant ears, funnel cake, and corn dogs wafting through the heavy air are some of summer’s saving graces. As a tribute to summer, I’ve put together a list of summery songs featuring this sizzling season.

photo by @john_matychuk via unsplash