I’ve missed you.
It seems ages since your warm breezes last blew across my skin. Too long since your lingering days invited me out of my house and to my deck to just sit. To just be with you.
Summer.
Welcome back.
May’s busy passage has opened the door for your arrival, and I am so, so ready.
But … I am also so, so wary …
I know how you are, Summer.
I have to stop myself from running to meet you. I’ve learned anything I do to hasten your coming … simply hastens your departure.
Summer, you are fleeting.
You are so brief. I hold you and watch you slip through my hands all at the same time.
Those warm breezes melt into hot, sunscreened days, and then — then, Summer — there are backpacks and books and falling leaves. And you fade almost as if you had never been.
Summer.
Can we do it differently this time? Please?
Let’s make a pact. Like a shared secret between best friends.
If you promise to linger.
To not leave me wanting.
To stay and only go when I am ready.
If you promise me this, then I promise, too.
I promise you …
I will give you time.
I will greet your days with unplanned hours.
I will give you over to unscripted adventure. To chasing bunnies and capturing fireflies.
My bucket list will be short and intentional, leaving me moments to inhale your happened-upon wonder.
I will count the stars in your blackened skies.
I will feel dirt beneath my feet. And grass. And water, too.
When your days bring rain, I will thank you for the chance to go outside and dance.
When your heat settles in, I will thank you for another poolside afternoon.
I will smell the flowers that bloom under your fiery sun.
I will plant something I’ve never planted and watch it grow — or die — enjoying the journey all the while.
I will cheer every hit, every catch, every slide.
I will eat ice cream on the cone, spray water from the hose, read a book …
One with pages I can turn.
Oh, Summer.
Summer, I promise.
I will walk with you.
I won’t run.
When your days feel too long. When it seems we’ve been together endlessly.
I won’t wish you away.
Instead I will breathe.
I will breathe you in one more time, reminding myself that soon, so soon, you will end.
I know you, Summer.
In spite of your promises, you will dim. Ignoring my protests, you will go.
Leaving me with only the memories of your good-bye and my unrequited crush.
To return only in your own time.
I know you, Summer …
And oh man,
I love you still.
Welcome back.
-by Jai Wallace Tracy
A Little Lost and Found
Uh, excuse me, where is the sun?