Summertime

Close your eyes. No, not tight, just...relax. Close your eyes. Do you feel it? The heat from the sun-soaked grass wrapping around you? The cool breeze of the dusk on a balmy July night tracing the curves of your face? No?

Listen. Take a deep breath. Listen. Can you hear it? The sound of a mosquito near by, ice clinking in a glass on the night stand, the sound of your lover's heart beating next to your ear. The sheets stick to you, the summer heat makes sleeping hard. The lights from passing cars race across the walls and ceilings and peek through the blinds while you study your lover's sleeping profile. Do you hear it? No?

Breathe. Can you smell the grass around you? The distinct summer smells of fresh air and hot concrete that waft in through the window? Maybe the warm breeze that traipses across the woods and cools down the front porch as you spend the afternoon swapping stories and gossip with the people who know you best, and love you anyway.

Listen.