Summer Weight

I remember as a kid when summer came around and nothing else mattered. Slowly as I grew up, those three carefree months became shorter. I no longer play in the sprinkler, or ride my bike down to the corner store to by Bazooka Bubble Gum and an ice cream Drum Stick. My summers now are filled with flakey jobs, high gas prices, and 100 degree temperatures.

Three days ago I laid flat on my back, looked up at the flaring dark Texas night sky and watched the International Space Station float by like a firefly. The feeling was surreal. I felt gravity holding me back as I reached off the face of the earth, as if one more step would release me, into eternity. My peripheral vision made it feel like I could see the contour of this relatively tiny planet as I looked out into space.

Today I realized that all my childhood adventures were still here. And the troubles of todays summers were present even back then, I just hadn't really focused on them. I was concentrating my attention on the wrong aspects of summer. It wasn't until I, quite literally, laid back and watched the world go-round that I saw what I was missing.