on being a summer girl

I was walking through Hyde Park on Saturday afternoon with Chris (after 3D MIB3…very good…I highly recommend…much better than MIB2) and he said something that struck me as so strikingly true…and was such an eye-opener.  I am not even sure if he would remember that he said it.  But...I have been thinking about it since he said it.  We were walking past Brooks Brothers, where I stopped to take a closer look at a navy and white rope printed shift dress, then in the next window a pink and green floral printed a-line skirt.  “I love that” came easily.  We continued around the circle, Williams Sonoma, a little boutique, and then Pottery Barn.  I have always loved Pottery Barn, but this season their shelves are laden with shells and sand, hammered metal, red, white and blue everything…outdoor chic.  That’s when Chris said

“Of course you love it, you love everything summer. it’s your season.”

I replied with a silly laugh and a shrug…he is, of course, right.  The more I have thought about it thought, the more I have realized how true it really is.  Summer is my favorite time of the year.  Summer brings my spirit.  Summer is who I am.  I thrive this time of the year.  I am not talking about that seasonal affected disorder stuff.  I am not saying that in the winter I recess into the dredges of life…I am just saying that summer makes me happy.

I could I suppose hypothesize about why summer makes me so happy.  I am sure there are studies galore that scientifically prove my personal observations.  I am pretty confident I am not the only one that feels this way.

The last 24 hours have left me with a handful of summer moments though  that have echoed and highlighted the way I have felt since Saturday…

I always knew that being a summer camp counselor was an important thing.  I know that I would not be the same person had summer camp not played a role in my life…and the New York Times has put a significant focus on that this past week.  Each day there was a new blog, reflection or article printed about the value of summer camp and the importance of the role of the summer camp counselor.

I have talked about Little Italy before too…those girls were my very last cabin of four-week campers.  Second session (long held as my lesser favorite session at camp) after one of the more challenging, less rewarding (at the time) and most impactful (in hindsight) summers of my life.  A bunch of 8, almost 9 year old girls absolutely changed my life.  Along with the best counselor team ever, we became Little Italy and for countless years we held cabin reunions and visited our cabin plaque, enjoyed root beer floats and oreos, recounted surprise midnight parties and laughed at the same silly stories year after year.

Well, just last night those two points converged in a cosmic moment of joy and reflection.  At 1:21 pm my iPhone chimed with a  new emai, subject line “Now you HAVE to come visit!”  I opened the message from my camp director (yes, she still is and always will be my camp director…no matter how long it has been!) and all that was included was an attachment…a picture…as it downloaded I fond myself staring at two smiling 19 year old young ladies at Staff Week Registration…2 members of Little Italy, now one year of college down and 10 years later…back at Seafarer to change the lives of so many campers!  Whether in their cabin, on the pier, in the classroom, at the swim lake…these two remarkable young ladies changed my life so much (they have no idea) and now they are going to continue that legacy of impacting young lives…and if they are open to it (and I am sure they are) having their lives changed in the process.

So, I am a summer girl.  Summer is who I am.  It is what I love…and I am going to do all I can…I HAVE to go visit…I need the Carolina sun on my shoulders, salt in my hair and spirit in my heart!