Catch a memory on a summer breeze

An end to summer….but why? There is a breeze about summer, in your surroundings and in your thoughts. Things should be easier in the summer. The breeze will take your thoughts and run with them. You go coatless, often shoeless, but never go thoughtless. It’s your thoughts on a cool summer evening that can be developed into creativity, whether it’s a book, a story or a piece of art. That is the thought process to unfold. Are you thinking about summers past? Summers to come? Or just trying to capture that feeling of summers from long ago? Regardless of the time frame for your thoughts, it’s time to capture it. When you were younger, you didn’t think about summer. It just happened. You ran in the fields, wandered in the woods or waded in a stream. You caught grasshoppers, toads or baseballs. You swung a racket or a fishing pole. You slammed the screen door behind you on your way to catch up with your friends, peanut butter sandwich in hand. In today’s electronic culture, it is hard to imagine the simplicity that we once applied to summer. Today’s kids have social media contacts, ringtones and instant messaging and texting. Do they really connect with each other or the good weather and surroundings around them? Try to capture your summers for a future generation. Remember just sitting on the lawn waiting for your turn at the latest lawn game? Did you sit at your parents’ vegetable stand waiting for the next customer or were you serving lemonade? Were you sitting atop the hay truck as your father or grandfather wound the tractor through the field? Did you hang out in an empty barn with the cows or horses all out in the field? Your summer, my summer was different than it is today. We weren’t worried about the “boogey man” who might snatch you away. We weren’t expecting our schoolmates to turn up missing or injured at the hands of a stranger. We ran to the ball fields, the swimming pool or the nearest beach or swimfront, without a thought beyond what time do we need to be home. We worried only that we might end up with yet another peanut butter sandwich if we missed “supper” and not dinner as it is more commonly called now. We know no one wants to be told about “the good ole days” or “back in my day,” but maybe a short story or anecdote will catch someone’s ear. Maybe remembering and relating can spark a new activity or adventure for this generation. Maybe they really do want a picnic for supper. Maybe they would like to snip beans being prepared for freezing or canning. Maybe they want to know how you could live without a PlayStation or Netflix or even Facebook. Maybe they don’t want to know right now, but perhaps as they grow older and begin to read what you have written of your memories. But they can only do that if you write them down. And you can only write them down if you stop and remember. Catch a breeze before summer is gone. Catch a memory in your thoughts and write it down for another generation.