Here in Texas, we’re used to the heat in summer, but we usually don’t hit 100-plus degree temperatures until later in the season.
This year, though, the oppressive heat came earlier than usual with our first high temperatures exceeding the century mark well before Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, it’s a harbinger for record-breaking stretches of heat and drought like we had in 1980 and 2011.
But despite the heat, I know, without a doubt, that children will still be playing outside (or maybe inside with air conditioning) all the while making summer memories to last a lifetime.
Pamela’s Prompts: What Things Remind You of Summer as a Child?
Here’s what I wrote:
When I think of summer as a child, these things immediately come to mind:
- The smell and taste of coconut sno-cones that left my tongue blue.
- Swimming with my family at the Ballinger City Pool in Runnels County, Texas. (Growing up in a small town in arid West Texas, we didn’t have good swimming holes so Ballinger, being only 18 miles away, was our favorite spot.)
- The feel of a sunburn on my shoulders. (I’m fair-skinned, so I always peeled, never tanned. It was a source of great frustration within my middle school-aged self.)
- Mud squishing between my toes when we kids made mud pies.
- Putting on skits with the neighborhood kids, complete with clothing pilfered from our parents’ closets.
- Rolling skating with the boys on church sidewalks, parking lots, and tennis courts.
- Climbing a pecan tree with my journal, pen, and an apple to pretend to be Jo March from “Little Women.”
- Turning back the nail on my big toe because I insisted on riding my bike barefoot to my friend’s house. Ouch!
- Buying a “bouquet” of flowers for a nickel from a neighborhood boy. Much to my embarrassment, the “bouquet” was only a clump of weeds and my Dad marched me right back to the boy’s front door and demanded he give me my nickel back!
- Digging in our sand box. Our goal was to dig to China. Somehow, we never made it.
- Eating banana popsicles that my grandmother, “Mam-ma,” brought over. Somehow, she always knew how many popsicles to bring so that each child could have one.
- Taking a vacation to Colorado at the height of summer in Texas in August. We always camped in our pop-up camper, and it was wonderful to enjoy nature in cool, mountain settings. Sigh. It was always so hard to come back to the heat.
Now, it’s your turn. Set a timer for 15 minutes and write.
Ready? Set? Go!
Let me know what you come up with by posting a comment below.
Happy writing!