Summer is right around the corner, and the unofficial start just passed. I used to LOVE summer as a kid. My God, I couldn't wait. I don't know if it was not having school, hanging out at the lake, being out of the house until dark, the subtle setting of dusk, maybe it was all of those things and more. As I reboot, I realized that I needed to get back to my summer primer. For me, it's listening to Van Halen's 'Diver Down' - specifically 'Little Guitars' - and when I hear that pick slide at 3:03, I'm in summer mode. I didn't do this last year, and I'm utterly convinced that's why last summer sucked. Focus: Do you have 'get in the summer mindset' rituals? Do you do anything to prepare? What do you love about summer? Focus: What specific memories of summer do you have that still stick with you and put a smile on your face? Alt Focus: Any big plans for the summer? Anything you want to accomplish before the dreaded September?
I love a feel good thread every now and again. For me, summer means working in my vegetable garden, playing with my dog in the yard, grilling on my charcoal grill on the back patio, smelling our freshly cut grass. When I was younger summers meant cutting the acres upon acres of grass that my family has north of the city. Sometimes as a treat we'd hit up Dairy Queen afterward for a dipped cone. I even remember a couple trips up to Waterville, USA. Bump.
Father's Day usually signifies that summer is officially here because there is a golf outing with the extended family every year. I try to golf as much as possible during the summer because Midwest winters, especially this past one, suck a fat one. For those who do golf, there really isn't much more enjoyable than drinking a beer after hitting a pure golf shot and walking to the next shot.
I leave for Kenya on Saturday, and will be there through most of June. So that's my big summer plan... Oh, and finding a big kid job with benefits and set hours and all that fancy stuff because (A) I despise teaching, even at the college level, especially because I'm paid so poorly and have zero benefits and (B) my 26th birthday is looming, and with it, the expiration of the kick ass healthcare plan that my mom's job supplies. Other than that, nothing really exciting is going on.
My summer ritual is to buy flip flops and boardshorts around May 1st, then spend the next 4 months destroying/losing said items. Memorial Day used to be the biggest redneck shindig at my parent's place and that was always awesome, because for the last week of school I had awesome stories of inebriated adults to tell. The first Harley I ever rode I stole from a drunk biker whose buddy dared me to take it around the block. I was 13 and it was great. They eventually phased it out because of police involvement and a particularly thrilling incident with drunk rednecks and guns. I suppose the real summer ritual is a trip to Myrtle Beach for skankery and getting arrested. Nowadays, we go to Charleston like classy folk for skankery and getting arrested...on wine, wearing a shirt that has sleeves and a collar. This year will probably be the last year I have a summer vacation and I turn 30 at the tail end of it, so shit will get real. Two months of lakes, fishing, jet skis and barbecues, all while not wearing socks.
I've never been a summer person. For me summers meant: Yay! I get to sleep in! Wait, no, the idea of a relaxing child makes my dad fly into a rage. Looks like I'm still waking up at 6 every day. Yay! No school! Wait, what's that? Summer reading programs? Aw fuck. Yay! Swimming! What's that? Sunburn, you fickle bitch. Yay! Time to play video games! "Get outside you lazy kid!" Ugh. The only thing I truly enjoyed about summer was baseball, and I don't play that anymore, though I watch a fair bit. Now a days, my family tends to gather at my parents house and go in their pool (which they didn't get, mind you, until their youngest child was 25). At least 4 times a week my brothers, sisters in law, and nieces and nephews gather at my parents, spend the day swimming, and then make a big grilled dinner. This wa fine until I had a kid that doesn't like swimming, so now the ritual is my wife goes swimming, I watch the kid (who screams I'd she gets within 5 feet of the pool), and my family spends the entire time commenting on how antisocial I am. No, summer is amazing.
Summer to me means leaving from school or work and heading straight to the lake until the last possible moment. Mix that in with a few trips down to Charleston and Pawley's Island and a Braves game or two. Heaven.
Summer is the only season that matters, and to hell with everything else. You literally have to be a crazy person (in a bad way) to be a winter person up here, fuck every single thing about that miserable, god-forsaken season. Summer means heat, barbecues, drinks outside, the beach, the cottage, clean roads and cars, gardening, beautiful nights, growing weed, and all-around generally better moods and attitudes displayed by everyone. And reggae music sounds better this time of year. Not dancehall reggae, but the good kind.
I will plan the yearly tubing trip out to the hill country and float the river in a drunken stupor with hundreds of drunk college chicks. What could possibly be bad?
My pre-summer ritual is hitting the gym and my thought process is usually as follows: I used to spend all my summers at my family's cabin, boating and hanging out with my cousins, but I haven't been home for summer in probably 5 years. My current summer plans include taking classes, trying not to die in the humidity, and keeping my skin as pasty as possible.
I switch from darker craft beers to miller lite. I feel like that's better suited to drinking outside in the sun. Oh, and I try to work less to enjoy the weather with cookouts and seeing friends who were hibernating. Outside of that not much changes.
Jesus Christ, are you ever not whining? My favourite part of summer is bonfire parties. We had them when I was a kid - all the neighbourhood kids would get together, have a big bonfire on the beach and roast marshmallows and hotdogs on sticks. Now our bonfire festivities are less "hotdog" and more "margarita", but the sentiment stands. There's something about the smell of wood-burning fire on a summer night that just makes you feel good.
It is going to be hotter than the underboob of a morbidly obese guy this summer. Which means mojitos, daiquiris, watermelon margaritas, Singapore Slings, Kalik, and grilling dead, once adorable animals. Ever had Kalik? Perfect summer beer from the Bahamas. Light, but still has flavor. Reminds me a lot of a good Czech Pilsner. Also going to be making the hell out of some hard iced teas. Bourbon, tea, lemon, some sugar. Sex. BRING THE SUMMER DRINKS ON. With a little luck (read as: effort to go to Home Depot), I'll get a new smoker so it will be bbq time all the time. I hope to get some good kayaking in. Row down the Loxahatchee river where it looks like the 1800s still. Plus some good beach time. I've already been on the beach more this year than the entirety of last. Tourists are generally gone, meteorologists say the wet season will be late this year, so, everything is turning up Milhouse. The ladies are already out in force and their bikinis just keep getting smaller. Bless fashion designers. Whoever invented the wedgie bottom is a God. Spoiler Spoiler
I thought it was Durbanite until I read the kid part. Fall is my favorite season for activities and things I look forward to but Summer has a special electricity that can't be beat. Especially living in the Midwest, there is just a buzz and overall uplifting of moods once the weather improves. Chicago in particular is just out of control awesome in the summer. Patio drinking, beaches, festivals, crop tops... Everything is just so much more laid back. My office has Summer Fridays from Memorial Day to Labor Day, so every Friday, we close up around 1230-1 normally, and you have the afternoon to do whatever. It's fantastic. Its pretty incredible how a relatively short 3 month summer can make people instantly forget what a miserable 6 month winter it was...
Next week I'm going to a goat farm in Utah to train pack goats and lift heavy objects from one place to the other. Then my man is meeting me in Salt Lake where we will drive to Zion and Bryce Canyon and I will RIDE A MOTHERFUCKING PONY INTO THE CANYON. I've got my pen quivering with anticipation over my bucket list to check that shit off. The only problem is I can't find my John Marston-esque cowboy hat, so the experience might need to be repeated at a later date for full orgasmic effect. Then once I've squatted enough goats and ridden enough ponies to be the paragon of fitness, I plan to spend the rest of the summer drinking it away.
For me, the start of summer means I pretty much lose any weekend time I used to have due to the massive uptick in the barbecue demand market. On the rare weekends I'm not doing a catering gig, I'm usually stuck in the shop working on the latest custom smoker project we have going on. I love all of the work and back when we started it was a really fun distraction and excuse to hang out with my really good buddy, but now that I have a kid, it's becoming more and more difficult to strike that balance of home life as well as expanding our little fledgling side business. Other than that, it also means I get to enjoy some great summer seasonal beers such as Bell's Oberon and Harpoon Big Squeeze. Oh, and girls lose lot's of layers of clothing, which is often a good thing when you have to spend a lot of time working on a major university campus...
Summer means, bon fires without still freezing your ass off once the sun goes down. Summer means drinks on the deck, listening to SRV strum and sing his wonderful all over the place. Summer means switching out boots for sling backs and turtlenecks for tanks tops. Summer means relaxation in general. Summer used to mean outside playing with the dogs watching them be the big fuzzy loveable goofballs they were. I'm not sure where my head is at in regards to this yet. What I do know is that they are up there still being the goofballs they are and that I miss them terribly. I guess this summer means change for me. We'll see how I do. I hate change. Edited for Juice: Ribbed turtlenecks, as in ya know, tight? Not old lady turtlenecks.