summer memories

I have these strange parts of winter that I've fallen in love with, and it does have its charm. But this winter is an intense one--and will be long. Hannah and I think, anyway. So, as a little bit of relief from its cold grasp, here are some of my very favorite, heart-warming summer memories.

• Playing around at JR Smith. I love all of those memories, but one especially. It was a really nice dark night, and we were all just hanging out on the playground. The sprinklers came on on the lawn and Morgan and I decided to run out through them. We just ran back and forth, trying to miss getting hit, and the whole time the water was making these wonderful glowy, misty halos all over. It was fantastic. Summer perfection.

• I was sitting up on the hill one day, watching the sun set. And I happened to text Tyler randomly and he ended up coming up with me. We played ninjas. And that was it. We whacked things with sticks and busted out moves. It was crazy, but it was so much fun.

• I'm not exactly sure if this was summer, but I'm pretty sure it was. Morgan and I had bike day where we rode our bikes all over Heber to go visit everyone we knew. After visiting Jake and Lurpe and Britta as they installed a stereo in lurpe's car, we ended up at Brady's house where he and Mike held us prisoner for awhile. It was a good day.

• Skinnydipping in Deer Creek with Hannah. We snuck out of my house and left dummies in our sleeping bags. It was such a beautiful, starry night.

• Truck tubbing with Hannah and Kyle! It was so ridiculous, but so so much fun. We probably nearly died, and as we went through the drive-through at Dairy Keen, Colin, who I had this big crush on, saw us. But I kind of didn't care. I need to do this again this summer.

• My date with Michaelface. He took me to breakfast at Sonic where everyone, and I mean everyone was dressed just like the person they were with. It was so bizarre. Then we walked around the classic car show in the park, then later that day met up with Randi and Tyler and had a picnic with them at the duck pond. After they left, we went to Mike's house and got some tools. Then we found a really secret spot, ha ha, and buried some wishes and other things. We promised to return in exactly one year to unbury them, and we will. After that, we got pennies and went all over to bodies of water and tossed them in for wishes. It was really magical.

• Farmer's Markets every Thursday. Talking to the plant lady with Derek. Listening to the bands. Hulahooping. Buying smoothies from Jake or Enano. Walking across the street to Dairy Keen. Just being together.

• This night on the hill with Brady. We talked for a really, really, really long time. I definitely missed curfew and blamed it on falling asleep at Randi's house. I am such a liar. I told him all my secrets, all of them.

• Bonfires at Randi's and Britta's houses. Michael with a rake or something, hitting kids? I don't even know anymore. Just sitting around the fire talking and roasting marshmallows. Having roasting contests.

• Creating B&T. We are probably some of the coolest people ever. And we always go to Borders and Jamba Juice. We live in West Boon and our headquarters is an abandoned pizza hut. Our rivals are white and jean scene. We are way overdue for B&T day, by the way.

• Sleeping on the trampoline. I could do it alone (yay, this doesn't scare me anymore!), or with people, and I absolutely love it. There was one particular night, the very last night of summer after sophomore year with Hannah, that will be burned into my mind forever as the epitome of summer nights.

• This one day at Lurpe's house, outside in his backyard as the sun was setting. I hadn't seen him for awhile, and he had just gotten back from soccer camp. The field behind his house was all golden and wavy. The mountains were bathed in sunlight and we talked about living as hermits in the mountains, visiting each other with gifts and sending light signals across the valley. I will remember the feel of the cool grass and the shadows. I still feel a little sad or melancholy or something thinking of this. It was my favorite memory with him.

• The strange things I would do at night when I couldn't sleep. Once I made these really gross sugar cookies at one a.m. Tyler was so wonderful, and kept texting me the whole time. Once I danced around the backyard and on the trampoline with a sparkler. The moon was HUGE. And then one quiet, shadowy night, I sat on the trampoline in perfect silence, sketching the shadows and moonlight in the dark. I miss that so much.

• And this, perhaps the simplest, but probably the most profound. It absorbed every one of my senses and it happened over and over. Driving around as the sun sets, in my car, with Hannah, our hands out the window, the smells of summer and cut grass, golden, orange colors, warm air, music. That is summer.

Love, Jennifer