Summer always invokes those beautiful childhood memories, the feelings of infinite freedom, the heat.
We decided on a picnic in the park - wine, cheese, bread, fruit, baked goods.
We needed supplies. Jacob met me at my apartment and we were tasked with cheese procurement, as well as other odds and ends. We drove to the grocery store, singing happily like teenagers.
While he ran back in for allergy medicine (ah, the signs of aging have landed), I retrieved the car. Since the parking lot off Downing is super small, I had no choice but to move my car since another was queued waiting for it. As though by magic, when I rounded the lot, edging closer to the door, easing my foot off the brake only when absolutely necessary, he appeared.
Yoo-hoo! I yelled, our regular greeting.
And then there was a quick driver change so that I could prepare myself for the picnic. Stopped at a red light, he made the suggestion and neither of us spoke in response. We exchanged glances and then undid our seatbelts and ran around the car.
Connected space messaging, we call it, based on me forgetting what telecommunication was called.
We laid the blanket near the flowers, but closer to the wide openness being taken up by volleyball players.
And we sat there until the sun had excused itself from the earth. Darkness fell softly and the bats emerged. And we laid there, heads on legs on heads on legs and we were content.
There is something so familiar and comforting about laying in the grass staring up at the sky. Trees stand above you. You know they'll not look the way they do forever. The green will grow and then die off and fall away, only to reemerge.
It's beautiful.
My friends are beautiful.
The night was beautiful.
However, I made the uncomfortable realization that tire swings lose a bit of their excitement as you age. I wedged my legs into the tire that used to hold like four kids, but now could only hold me, and let Jacob push me. I swung around, waiting for the stomach-dropping thrill, but finding none, extricated myself and went on to other pursuits (including the digger. Which also isn't that fun anymore).
Ah, summer nights.
