summer lovin'

Typically, right now I'd be giddy.

Store shelves are stocked with school supplies. Even when I'd dropped out of college and had no plans on going back - this was my favorite time of year. I'd stock up on notebooks and pens and pencils. Of course, I actually used them, scratching passages and pages and short stories into them...only to store them under the bed or in Rubbermaid tubs.

Fall decorations are starting to make an appearance as well...Halloween decorations filled an entire section of a craft store I wandered into over the weekend. The idea of pumpkin scented everything, the colors of oranges and reds and the thought of sweaters would put me over the edge. I'd be so giddy it would be ridiculous.

I'd be praying for rain, making lists of all the fall CD, book and movie releases and shopping for new jeans, long sleeved shirts and fuzzy sweaters...

But for some reason - I just want fall to wait.

I have the nagging feeling that there haven't been enough bonfires. There haven't been enough ice cold beers under a setting summer's sun, there haven't been enough parties that left me woozy and looking for my bed at six o'clock in the morning. There haven't been enough of those.

I'm not a fair or festival gal by nature - but I want fall to wait. There have got to be a few more beer tents to invade, a few more stops along the road to gain composure. A few more nights to forget that we have jobs or rent or responsibilities.

I'm starting to have a thing for summer.

Because I never liked to swim, or wearing shorts for that matter - I usually couldn't wait for summer to be done and over with. Give me a comfortable sweater and rainy days...But if there's anything I've fallen in love with in this life - it's how we can change our attitudes or moods or personalities without even really trying.

Now here I am, not really concerned with the fact that it has been a consecutive 90+ degrees around here. Too hot to do anything outside but sit in the shade and sip something cold. I just want it to stay summer. I want kids to stay outside. I want to enjoy the fact that during the hot, summer months everyone takes a sort of rest from everything. Mental vacations are rampant around this time of year. The days are long...and even bad days have the life of a good, dramatic song...with a revolutionary ending just before bed.

You never know how you deal with things during the summer months...but you deal. You don't ask questions...it's too hot. Just do it and wait for the sun to rise.

Yeah...I could do with fall waiting a little bit longer to come around.

Somebody give me a drink with an umbrella in it.