I don’t know what it’s like where you live, but these past few mornings here in Atlanta have felt almost fall-like, with crisper, cooler air and temperatures in the upper 60s when we’re getting out the door. And with our kids back in school now, it really is beginning to feel like fall is just around the corner, even though I know we technically have another month of summer to go.
Still, it’s one of those times when I find myself looking back and thinking about the summer — this one and summers past, what I loved, how fast it felt it went by, and what I’ve always loved about summer, especially the ones I experienced as a kid, when they felt like they lasted forever.
Since we’re nearing that turn in the year when summer starts to give way to fall, I thought I’d ask: what’s your favorite summer memory? It can be from this summer, it can be something you experienced on a run, with a friend, or your partner, or your kids, or a time you met someone special, whom you’ve remembered ever since.
I’ll share mine in the comments, and I can’t wait to hear what you have to say. — Terrell
I remember going to rockaway beach to breezy Point. We had all my cousins and everybody was running away, and we all slept on top of each other but was so much fun. In the summer we were free like birds I I came from A BO HAM lifestyle. But when I went out to Breezy Point I was just a kid I could run around. Laugh scream, it was great.. I miss those days
Well, Terrell, Summer vanished poof. . . like that. One day, it was 107 degrees. . .just overnight it dropped with a north wind to 67 degrees. That's what it is like in hill country! Today, it is maybe in the 80s. Still dry as a bone with smoke around us from the Bedrock Fire and the Lookout Fire. Much easier to work outside, though. I've managed to cut back a few of the plants and spaded up the raised beds,which are falling apart anyway.
Looking back on favorite summer memories, they are so far back they hardly matter. My most favorite, which I still remember vividly were running along the Trail in Redmond in the rain and in the really hot temperatures (80 some degrees) to see how the trees were doing along Bear Creek. I have a special place in my heart for some of the first Half Marathons I ran by myself in the early summer in Carnation, WA .
There is nothing in my many years that are near as fulfilling as running. . . such freedom, such being alive in nature. . . Even though I still can go way back into the past, I can truthfully say nothing compares to running that has created memories that I cherish for the future.
Late to this conversation. But wanted to say my instant reaction was: jasmine. Maybe because I was just in what used to be my grandmother's neighborhood on Wednesday, I've been thinking of how deeply it smelled like jasmine on summer nights. She had a huge jasmine bush that draped over the front fence in her part of Athens, and she'd sit out there in evenings. If I was coming back from something after dinner time, I'd find her there and she'd ask me to sit with her for a bit. When I was a teenager, I felt uncomfortable sitting there with her--awkward and wanting to not abide by an elder's rules--but now when I remember those times, I'm glad I obeyed and joined her. Years ago, my parents built a new house on that property so the building is gone, but I could rebuild it for you stone by stone, scent by scent, if I had to.
My favorite memories growing up were us spending our summers at the cabin...that’s where are parents just let us run free. We had a huge garden and a swimming pond(pretty muddy and gross with all the bugs along the shore but once you got past that....) the water was cool as it came from a mountain spring. We wore cowboy boots and I remember my mom standing us in the horse trough to get our boots nice and wet and then we ran around in them until they dried...perfectly formed to our feet! I also learned how to ride a motorbike and actually drive here as well! I miss those days of pure innocence and worry free....
Twice in the 50s when I was 7 and 8 we spent a week in a cottage in Balboa, CA (we lived in the San Fernando valley). Days were spent building roadways (not castles) on the beach, swimming and kayaking. Once or twice, our folks would come back to the cottage with chocolate eclairs. At night, while our folks were at Christian’s Hut, a Polynesian place that served the requisite rum drinks, my brother and I would hang out at the Penny arcades.
My best summer memories are from the house we moved to the summer before I went into 7th grade. From that summer all through high school, I remember sitting in the hammock, reading and drinking lemonade. We had moved close enough to town that I could walk to the library, and I started a summer ritual I still continue to this day (I'm in my 40s!) -- getting a thick Stephen King paperback to read during a New England summer vacation.
I used to go to Maine every summer to visit my grandparents and then drive south to Vermont to visit my other grandparents. One of the most fun things was the two grandparents were VERY different, so I ended up having two summer vacations in one trip.
In my teenage years the beauty of Maine became somewhat undeniable, but I typically had more independence in Vermont because it was near Burlington and public transportation made it so me and my brother could move around by ourselves.
One of my favorite summer memories is making pesto with my family. We grow lots of basil in our backyard and make it into pesto. The pasta we make with the sauce is so delicious and just reminds me of summer.
i spent a month every summer as a kid with my grandparents and visited them in florida. it was a blast. my grandmother was a woman who never sat still. we were always traveling, doing something crafty, baking or cooking or you name it. as i got older and started running i had a great 6 mile loop i could do around her house and development. i still think about those runs and hope one day to go back and revisit my old stomping grounds.
Lovely idea Terrell. Our grandparents had a cabin off the Long Island Sound that they bought for $500, an expense at the time. They built a legacy there. They would take us kids there every summer on my Grandpa’s small whaler and we would swim, clam and search for treasure, living without electricity and running water- playing cards by the light of kerosene. It taught me so much about what is important in life and what is not. I wrote about it here as I reflected on the there there’s in our life, the things we can’t go back too, and how if we are lucky we might still find them within us My longer version of a two part story is here if it interested anyone- there is audio. https://pocketfulofprose.substack.com/p/biking-to-fish-lake-part-one
One of the things I remember most vividly from our summers as kids growing up were our trips to the beach in South Carolina, specifically a tiny little island called Fripp Island, which is one of a small string of barrier islands that stretch out from Beaufort, S.C. We'd go around the same time every summer, and usually stay 1 or 2 weeks, depending on how much time my parents could spare from work.
I remember the days being HOT on the beach, and actually not liking it all that much because I have fair skin and sunburn *really* easily; but the nights, when we would walk on the beach and occasionally see sea turtles nesting, and see the phosphorous glowing in the water around our ankles as we walked along the beach, listening to the sound of the waves rolling in and the wind blowing at night, was just magical.
It's not necessarily a single memory, but more about the "sensation" of summer that those of us raised in colder climates have. When seasons carry such a feeling of specificity, (versus living in California where, for the most part, the seasons blend into one) my sense is that you make it a mission to enjoy each season with greater and more targeted exuberance. (Especially true for my New England friends who hate winter.)So...what that meant for me as a kid...The onset of summer heralded trips to Maine and gorging on lobster and clam rolls-- the smell of cheap suntan lotion and long days at the beach--burned shoulders and exhausted topples into bed. I loved every minute of those summer vacations--especially given the fact that during those summer getaways, my normally dysfunctional family actually got along.
My favorite summer memories are all from when I was able to get away from Phoenix, especially if it was in the mountains somewhere. Yesterday I did my 6 miles in 113-115 degrees.
I remember going to rockaway beach to breezy Point. We had all my cousins and everybody was running away, and we all slept on top of each other but was so much fun. In the summer we were free like birds I I came from A BO HAM lifestyle. But when I went out to Breezy Point I was just a kid I could run around. Laugh scream, it was great.. I miss those days
Well, Terrell, Summer vanished poof. . . like that. One day, it was 107 degrees. . .just overnight it dropped with a north wind to 67 degrees. That's what it is like in hill country! Today, it is maybe in the 80s. Still dry as a bone with smoke around us from the Bedrock Fire and the Lookout Fire. Much easier to work outside, though. I've managed to cut back a few of the plants and spaded up the raised beds,which are falling apart anyway.
Looking back on favorite summer memories, they are so far back they hardly matter. My most favorite, which I still remember vividly were running along the Trail in Redmond in the rain and in the really hot temperatures (80 some degrees) to see how the trees were doing along Bear Creek. I have a special place in my heart for some of the first Half Marathons I ran by myself in the early summer in Carnation, WA .
There is nothing in my many years that are near as fulfilling as running. . . such freedom, such being alive in nature. . . Even though I still can go way back into the past, I can truthfully say nothing compares to running that has created memories that I cherish for the future.
Late to this conversation. But wanted to say my instant reaction was: jasmine. Maybe because I was just in what used to be my grandmother's neighborhood on Wednesday, I've been thinking of how deeply it smelled like jasmine on summer nights. She had a huge jasmine bush that draped over the front fence in her part of Athens, and she'd sit out there in evenings. If I was coming back from something after dinner time, I'd find her there and she'd ask me to sit with her for a bit. When I was a teenager, I felt uncomfortable sitting there with her--awkward and wanting to not abide by an elder's rules--but now when I remember those times, I'm glad I obeyed and joined her. Years ago, my parents built a new house on that property so the building is gone, but I could rebuild it for you stone by stone, scent by scent, if I had to.
My favorite memories growing up were us spending our summers at the cabin...that’s where are parents just let us run free. We had a huge garden and a swimming pond(pretty muddy and gross with all the bugs along the shore but once you got past that....) the water was cool as it came from a mountain spring. We wore cowboy boots and I remember my mom standing us in the horse trough to get our boots nice and wet and then we ran around in them until they dried...perfectly formed to our feet! I also learned how to ride a motorbike and actually drive here as well! I miss those days of pure innocence and worry free....
Bending the rules .... THIS summer is one for the memory books .... after GTIS last Saturday, took in Vail and Colorado Springs
Twice in the 50s when I was 7 and 8 we spent a week in a cottage in Balboa, CA (we lived in the San Fernando valley). Days were spent building roadways (not castles) on the beach, swimming and kayaking. Once or twice, our folks would come back to the cottage with chocolate eclairs. At night, while our folks were at Christian’s Hut, a Polynesian place that served the requisite rum drinks, my brother and I would hang out at the Penny arcades.
My best summer memories are from the house we moved to the summer before I went into 7th grade. From that summer all through high school, I remember sitting in the hammock, reading and drinking lemonade. We had moved close enough to town that I could walk to the library, and I started a summer ritual I still continue to this day (I'm in my 40s!) -- getting a thick Stephen King paperback to read during a New England summer vacation.
I grew up in Wilmington, NC and did junior olympics when I was in high school.
I loved the track meets because our home meets were at a padded track.
I got to do events that I have yet to do again: I threw the javelin, ran the steeplechase, and the 5K on the track.
Many of my teammates were friends or at least people I could make small talk with.
This was a great way to head into high school cross country.
I loved these meets because they felt a lot more relaxed since we could do other events that weren’t available during the scholastic season.
It was nice to be pushing my limits with other good distance runners, knowing we were all friendly when the race was done.
I was not the fastest, but I always ran with everything I had.
I used to go to Maine every summer to visit my grandparents and then drive south to Vermont to visit my other grandparents. One of the most fun things was the two grandparents were VERY different, so I ended up having two summer vacations in one trip.
In my teenage years the beauty of Maine became somewhat undeniable, but I typically had more independence in Vermont because it was near Burlington and public transportation made it so me and my brother could move around by ourselves.
Love both of those places.
One of my favorite summer memories is making pesto with my family. We grow lots of basil in our backyard and make it into pesto. The pasta we make with the sauce is so delicious and just reminds me of summer.
i spent a month every summer as a kid with my grandparents and visited them in florida. it was a blast. my grandmother was a woman who never sat still. we were always traveling, doing something crafty, baking or cooking or you name it. as i got older and started running i had a great 6 mile loop i could do around her house and development. i still think about those runs and hope one day to go back and revisit my old stomping grounds.
Lovely idea Terrell. Our grandparents had a cabin off the Long Island Sound that they bought for $500, an expense at the time. They built a legacy there. They would take us kids there every summer on my Grandpa’s small whaler and we would swim, clam and search for treasure, living without electricity and running water- playing cards by the light of kerosene. It taught me so much about what is important in life and what is not. I wrote about it here as I reflected on the there there’s in our life, the things we can’t go back too, and how if we are lucky we might still find them within us My longer version of a two part story is here if it interested anyone- there is audio. https://pocketfulofprose.substack.com/p/biking-to-fish-lake-part-one
One of the things I remember most vividly from our summers as kids growing up were our trips to the beach in South Carolina, specifically a tiny little island called Fripp Island, which is one of a small string of barrier islands that stretch out from Beaufort, S.C. We'd go around the same time every summer, and usually stay 1 or 2 weeks, depending on how much time my parents could spare from work.
I remember the days being HOT on the beach, and actually not liking it all that much because I have fair skin and sunburn *really* easily; but the nights, when we would walk on the beach and occasionally see sea turtles nesting, and see the phosphorous glowing in the water around our ankles as we walked along the beach, listening to the sound of the waves rolling in and the wind blowing at night, was just magical.
It's not necessarily a single memory, but more about the "sensation" of summer that those of us raised in colder climates have. When seasons carry such a feeling of specificity, (versus living in California where, for the most part, the seasons blend into one) my sense is that you make it a mission to enjoy each season with greater and more targeted exuberance. (Especially true for my New England friends who hate winter.)So...what that meant for me as a kid...The onset of summer heralded trips to Maine and gorging on lobster and clam rolls-- the smell of cheap suntan lotion and long days at the beach--burned shoulders and exhausted topples into bed. I loved every minute of those summer vacations--especially given the fact that during those summer getaways, my normally dysfunctional family actually got along.
My favorite summer memories are all from when I was able to get away from Phoenix, especially if it was in the mountains somewhere. Yesterday I did my 6 miles in 113-115 degrees.