...And the Living is Easy

Imagine the windows down, the radio turned up, driving through the dark, isolated country roads singing your heart out with the residual scent of chlorine on your skin.  But there is no loneliness because you are surrounded by the thick, encompassing heat and humidity of a summer night in Pennsylvania.  As you drive past a wooded area you smell all the smells of summer rushing out to meet you, the notorious and earthy scent of an ornamental pear tree, the sweet lingering smell of the wild honeysuckle, and the smell of good soil in some stage of drying out from earlier rain showers.  You hear the crickets whirring and the cicadas buzzing.  Breathe deep all that is living.

Remember all the great memories of years gone by, of running out of the school building on the last day of school, endless sleepovers, Dirty Dancing marathons, all day long bike rides and disappearing until sunset.  Remember working in the garden, swimming at the lake with friends and family, living in your bathing suit day and night and annual beach trips with all the rituals and routines of a well established tradition.  Sink into the seat of the car where your heated skin from the sun's exposure earlier in the day is bounding back to meet you.

And once you are in the depths of the music and rhythm, the sights and sounds, the smells and feelings, know that you have just reached one of the ways I feel heaven here on earth.  Isn't summer wonderful?