Summertime

So many memories I have are summer-colored, like those walking-down-the-lane days recalled in various hues of green. Green for Grandpa’s cornfields spread all around us and green for the grass on which my sisters and I used to run and play. Besides that color green, which prettily surrounded me through all my childhood, I think a favorite memory would be the colors of one lovely day spent with my family, the family created by my spouse and me and a day our kids were young. We lived near San Francisco. Few troubles plagued us then and I loved our short time in California! One summer day at last we went to see the beach of Santa Cruz. I don’t remember details of everything we did. We walked along the boardwalk, naturally. I’m sure the kids, both pre-teens, enjoyed the rides. Even I was every bit as excited as the two of them. I’m sure my spouse and I took pictures, ate good-tasting food and watched our children doing things all children love to do. But what stood out for me was our time spent on the beach and how we all jumped up to greet each wave that tumbled toward us time and time again to knock us down. What pure pleasure in the splashes of blue that fun-filled day, the blue of the Pacific, which chilled me at the start until I warmed to it as the yellow sun in blue of sky above smiled down on us. Yes, the blue of sky and water and the constant shining yellow of the sun: those would be the colors of my favorite summer memory - when times were good and we were young and simply having fun. For the Summertime Contest of Janis Thompson