Summer

Sleep.
Star Trek.
Sleep.
School with Mom.
Clean the House.
Sleep.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Sleep.
Malone.

That is the strict itinerary that I'll be following this summer. It's going to be a smokin' time. I mean, okay. Lately some of my friends' notes on facebook have gotten me to really think about the summer and how I was once so filled with excitement and anticipation at the mystery of what the summer would hold that I would only be let down at the start up of school because my summer magic never happened. Maybe if i keep a cynical enough attitude from the get go, I'll less disappointed at the end.

No lie, all I ever wanted was a summer of adventure and of real life magic. It never happened. I just wanted to be able to look my summer memories in the face and say, "I'm not surprised that happened; it's summer and anything can happen." I never got the chance to say that. I want a big, magical summer and I want to feel like I never want it to end. Maybe this is too much to ask, maybe I'm being selfish, but maybe this is the summer that it's supposed to happen...

I had one summer night once that I never wanted to end. I was about nine and my family was camping, not just my immediate, but also some of my extended family. One hot night, it was too muggy for any of us to sleep so we went to the playground on the campgrounds and me, my big brother, my four cousins, my two aunts, my uncle, and my parents played a game of flashlight tag that I never ever wanted to end. I think that might still be the best night of my life. I remember it so vividly. This was a perfect night. It was before the lost innocence of my cousins, before divorces riddled my family, before depression, slipped discs, and surgeries prevented the adults from running around like kids. It was before drugs, alcohol, self-centeredness and bitterness tainted our family. I wish I could return to that night sometimes, but I know there's a time for facing reality and a time for growing up.