WordsRunTogether

When I think of summer, I hear Seals & Croft, the super mellow ‘70s duo that turned summer memories into the most benevolent silk that wraps around you anytime you hear the first few notes of any of their songs. The soft tweedle of “Hummingbird don’t fly away, fly away,” spills into “Diamond Girl,” which slides into “Closer to You.” But the quintessential (that’s five times essential) summer song in my life has been “Summer Breeze.”

Summer breeze
Makes me feel fine
Blowin’ through the jasmine in my mind….

(Now you, too, can be wrapped up in the best tune bondage ever. You’re welcome.)

The song captures so much of what’s great about summer…early evening, floral scents wafting on the warm breeze as the day winds down, the feeling of homecoming. For me the song was the soundtrack for glorious Colorado sunsets with light streaming through the clouds over the mountains, running around outside after dinner, getting in one last game of kickball or Red Rover or just zipping up and down the streets on our bikes. It was my parents hanging out on the neighbors’ front porch in lawn chairs while we played tag by the honeysuckle bushes. It was the first stars coming out and every night the wail of the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe rail line that ran straight through the heart of Littleton, Colorado. We lived in the unincorporated part of Jefferson County, surrounded with fields and greenbelts, and when that train whistle blew at midnight, I could finally fall asleep, tucked in with the windows open. When I heard that wail, I knew: All was right in the world.

When Seals & Croft came out with the classic “We May Never Pass This Way (Again),” it became the anthem for my last two years of high school. I was in love with a German boy my junior year, and he left for home at the end of that summer. That song became the engine that drove me through a couple years of studying abroad and, honestly, probably shaped my carpe diem outlook.

Because it’s true. Every single day, it’s true: We may never pass this way again. So take lots of pictures of your summer. You won’t regret it. Here are some of mine.

Happy Summer!

A couple weeks ago I took my daughter to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science to see, among other things, the Mythical Creatures exhibit, where I snapped this photo:

Photo credit: Sandra S. McRae

Then I posted it on Facebook and held a caption contest. The prize for best caption was a poem. My friend Lori Greenlee McDowell won with her quip: “No, I did not sleep well last night. Why do you ask?” The judging, of course, was completely subjective and I had absolutely no ethical oversight in picking the winner. You are all winners in my book! Lori, here is your poem:

Winston Churchill’s American Mother Said:

Treat your friends
as you do your best pictures
and always place them
in their best light.

So when you see her
       eyes bugged out and blazing
       lips pulled back to flash fierce teeth
       collar flared to make herself bigger

Remember that beneath that bluster
       a sweaty, overworked
       stressed, small human
       is likely dealing as best she can
       with a tremendous fear
       of Bali lions.

Compassion! Thanks for playing, everyone!