Squeaky swings and tall grass
The longest shadows ever cast
The waters warm and children swim
We frolicked about in our summer skin
I don't recall a single care
Just greenery and humid air
Then Labor Day came and went
And we shed what was left of our summer skin
On the night you left I came over
And we peeled the freckles from our shoulders
Our brand new coats so flushed and pink
And I knew your heart I couldn't win
Cause the seasons change was a conduit
And we'd left our love in our summer skin
-Death Cab for Cutie
Summer is a time of the year for me that represents the peak of all things light, alive and free. As a child those gorgeous July nights were so long and overflowing with promise. We stayed out past sunset with friends, catching fireflies in jars. We would escape to the beach on weekends, or (because my parents were also feeling that summer freeness) we would take off for a few days during the week and head down to the shore.
At the end of August we always vacationed at least two weeks in Rhode Island, and did nothing but live, sleep, breathe, eat the beach. Salty skin and hair, sunburns and freckled noses, clamming and muscle foraging on the rocks. We would spend hours in the salt pond collecting shells and catching crabs. We never ever left the beach before sunset. It was, and still is my mother's favorite time on the beach. (And therefore mine as well). Everyone packs up and heads home, the waves calm a bit, the seagulls pick up the scraps families left behind and the water almost feels warmer than the air.
This time of the day at this time of the year for me symbolizes change; the embracing what lingers of that sweet summer light that dapples in our hair and on our bronzed skin, the freedom of all that screams summer. And it is, for me, a time to be documented.
If you are called to it; if you too yearn for those long summer days and feel that same heart ache when late-August creeps on in on you because you know that September is just around the corner and it' s a sort of bittersweet ending to the most beautiful time of the year, then you will want to keep in touch with me, I promise.