We kicked off the first day of summer as I believe the solstice should be celebrated … with an homage to the great outdoors.  These two ran, squealed, shrieked and squirted each other with water, red faced and ecstatic.  They cooled down with Popsicles and my little one came home happy and exhausted.  Oh I remember the joy of a good night’s sleep after playing hard in the summer!  In that twilight time between bath and bed I would replay all that fun in my mind with the joy of knowing I had all summer to do it again:  the sound of cicadas, the smell of fresh cut grass, and the promise of long summer nights stretched out before me like a magic carpet.  It is hard to believe these girls have known each other half of their young lives.  I am not going to wonder where life will take them; I am simply going to enjoy the ride and the precious gift we have been given of time.  I am reminded of my favorite Shakespearean Sonnet (Number 18):

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

I enjoy all four seasons but summer holds a magic all her own.  I hope my little one experiences all she has to offer and will carry wonderful memories of these times; continuing summer’s joy throughout her life.  I know I do.