Hello Friends! It’s here. The time of year we’ve all been waiting for……SUMMER! Happy first day of Summer! Happy Summer Solstice! Happy longest day of the year, that just so happens to be on a Friday! What a way to start the weekend!
Whatever today is to you, I wish it to be chock full of sunshine and happiness.
Summer represents a lot of things. And being from Ohio, now living in Southern California, it’s fun for me to do the compare and contrast. Some things are the same no matter where you live, while others seem to be exclusive to your area.
Like humidity. Sorry SoCal’ers, you don’t know what humidity is. And I know, any of you from the deep South, you think this Ohio girl doesn’t know what it is either. But trust me. My summers included that humid nastiness where it feels like some one just wrapped you in a hot, wet blanket that you can’t escape. I know what it’s like to climb out of a cool, refreshing shower, only to start immediately sweating again. And friends, I have thick, coarse, curly hair. You don’t even want me to describe the frizzy rat’s nest my mane turns into. Let’s just say some one is glad to have left the humidity.
So I’m going to share with you what summer means to me…..
It means there’s no school. It means sleeping in (if only my kids were hip to that idea). Summer means swimming pools, and trips to the beach. Having sun-kissed skin. Wearing shorts, tank tops and flip-flops. It’s summer camps, and summer vacations.
Little Brother taking a dip
It means backyard barbeques. And hanging out with friends. Grilling s’mores and hotdogs over the fire pit.
Or wine by the fire pit
It means swimsuits and towels drying on the fence. It’s running through sprinklers, slip and sliding down Slip N’ Slides, and still managing to do cannonballs in the blow-up pool purchased at the drugstore. It means beach balls, squirt guns, bubbles and sidewalk chalk.
It’s boat rides on Lake Erie, trips to Put-in-Bay and Cedar Point. (More Ohio summer memories)
It’s more meals from the grill and less from the oven. It means delicious, sweet, juicy summer and stone fruit is finally back in season- watermelon, peaches, plums, nectarines and cherries, oh my! It’s flourishing, bountiful gardens.
Cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, green beans, eggplant, zucchini and squash.
Summer is staying out until the street lights come on. It’s catching lightning bugs with the neighbor kids. It’s the ice cream truck. It’s riding bikes and playing baseball.
It’s later bedtimes. It’s catching up on re-run TV shows, and watching movies while camping out on the living room floor.
It’s library reading programs, weekday playdates, and frequent trips to the park.
Big Brother at his favorite park
It’s lemonade and popsicles.
Because everyone eats popsicles while wearing baseball helmets backwards. It’s the safest way to do it.
It’s overly joyed, overly tired kids who are laughing, playing and squealing one minute, and snoring the next.
Some one wore himself out.
Summer time even means, mosquito bites, bee stings, sunburns and skinned knees. But even those unpleasantries are very short lived.
Something about summer just seems….happier. More laid back. Even though as grown-ups we still have to get up and go to work everyday, for some reason it seems a little less stressful. Maybe it’s because the sun is still shining when we get off work. Maybe it’s because weekends are now spent outside, instead of cooped up indoors. More sunshine and longer days, makes even adults feel like we have more time to play.
I feel like I smile a little more, laugh a little louder and stop sweating the small stuff as much in those summer months. My mom must be right….being outside in the fresh air is good for your soul.
I imagine this helps as well,
Soaking up the sun
as well as a little of this,
Chilled vino on a hot day
Cheers to a great summer!
What does summer mean to you? Do you have any big plans this summer?
Ohio Gal Livin' in SoCal 
Tell me what you think