Summer Lovin’, had me a bla-aast…

Don’t you remember the anticipation of summer?  Counting down the days and planning adventures with friends.  Just waiting for life to begin. When every day was a gift and you yearned to make the most of it. 

I’m not talking about the scents of freshly cut grass or wild honeysuckle or even the feeling of sand between your toes and the sun’s rays tingling the tanning oil on your body.  I’m talking about feelings of love and anticipation and a world ripe with…possibilities.  The possibility of falling in love.  Again and again.

I remember the excitement about boys.  I can now look back with the realization that summer relationships taught me a lot.  It was that first taste of all-consuming love—when you knew IN ADVANCE that it wasn’t meant to last beyond the season so you tried to make each and every little moment count.

Sleeping in and sneaking out.  Giggling into the night with girlfriends about boys and willing to sneak out for stolen kisses because summer put your life in slow motion for a while.  It was time suspended, and we made the most of it. It was a time when taking a walk at sunset with the love of your life (for that part of the summer) and intertwining your fingers with his seemed like the most romantic thing in the world. 

As writers, do you tend to write scenes occurring in the summer because they come easiest to you?  I wrote my first book around the place where we used to summer vacation every year, and those scenes always felt the strongest.  The love always felt the strongest there, and I think it’s because our memories of those days remain fresh somehow.  The magic of summer love and the bittersweet flavor it leaves long after it’s gone.  

There’s a comment made in The Notebook that I’ve always loved:  “Summer romances begin for all kinds of reasons, but when all is said and done, they have one thing in common.  They’re shooting stars, a spectacular moment of light in the heavens, fleeting glimpse of eternity, and in a flash they’re gone.”

What are some of your favorite movies and/or books dealing with summer love?  Here are a few of mine.

Kim’s Summer Love Movies

1. Man in the Moon (with Reese Witherspoon)
2. The Notebook
3. Dirty Dancing
4. Little Darlings
5. Grease

I’ll leave you with an anonymous quote I read that started me thinking about my old boyfriends of summer:  “In every girl’s life, there’s a boy she’ll never forget and a summer where it all began.”  Who is the boy you’ll never forget?

Summer Lovin’, happened so fa-aast…