Summer days

 I only know what I will write once I stare at a blank page and kick-start my memory bank. Maybe it will be something funny or dead serious. Maybe it will take me back in time to my youth and the countless things I remember. I never panic because something will pop into my head in a few minutes, and I'm off to the races.

                                              SUMMER DAYS

It's another beautiful day in the life of an eight-year-old. School is out for the summer, and moms everywhere hold their breath and swing into action. Play dates, trips to the beach, lemonade stands, and sleepovers in a backyard tent: Sunscreen, mosquito repellant, and plenty of band aids all in a day's work for mom. And just when you thought your day was complete, your dad brought home a backyard swimming pool that took him and two uncles an entire day to put together and another day for it to be filled with water from the hose. Finally, the day came, and you and your siblings were swimming and playing endless games of MARCO-POLO, two words you still can't get out of your mind. Naturally, you were the most popular kid in the neighborhood as your friends peered through the fence holding goggles and towels, waiting for your mom to say it was ok for them to join you.

Summer days and swimming pools were meant to be together. Once in a while, Dad would turn on the lights he installed to light up the pool, and he and Mom would have a late-night swim, talking softly and laughing, thinking we were fast asleep, but we weren't. I'm glad they had those times alone in that backyard pool.

At the end of summer, Dad would drain most of the water, leaving just enough to keep it from blowing apart during bad winter storms. The pool waited for us to return year after year. Late spring meant removing the cover and filling it with water from the hose again, to everyone's delight. Years passed, and the old pool began to show signs of decay, and Dad patched more than he was swimming. I was fifteen when my dad and two uncles took the pool down, leaving a perfect circle on the grass. I went to college a few years later but returned home whenever possible. Sitting on the back porch, I saw remnants of that circle and remembered those endless summers and our little piece of heaven.

Mike 2024