Memory of Sunsets Past

When I was younger and still lived in the country, my family built a house. I was gifted a huge bedroom with a walk-in closet and a window seat. (My parents also let me draw on my walls and I did so with gusto) I had always longed for a window seat. How romantic they seemed! I pictured myself curled up with a book, leaning against a plush pillow, taking occasional glances out the glass, watching the life around me glide by. I used that window seat all of the time. I studied there, ate snacks there, talked with friends there...I lived there.

The strongest memories I have of it are of summer evenings. I didn't have a book to distract me and I didn't take occasional glances out the glass. I watched, enraptured, as the sun sank lazily toward a horizon obscured by tall trees. The colors were joyous and at times, bizarre and otherworldly. It's the only time in my life that I really remember watching the sun set with any regularity. Although, in most of my fantasies of "the perfect life" I live in an A-Frame house in a cozy gully and it's perpetually sunset. (Though in real life I have no desire to live in such a house, in such a place.)

I kept the window open and let the soft smells of summer waft over me as I sat in perfect harmony with my world. The view from that window haunts my memory. It is one of the few things that makes me yearn for summer. Some of the other things are yard sales, watermelon, corn on the cob and...nope, that's it.

Living in New York state allows me to experience four seasons each year. I like fall the best and I like summer the least. I might be one of the only people who is glad it only lasts a few months. I hate being too hot. I'd rather be too cold. Although when it's too cold you can put on more clothes and blankets and drink hot, delicious treats and cuddle with someone. When it's too hot I don't want anyone to even think about touching me and you can only take off so many clothes in public. Legally.

Tonight the sun was doing beautiful things while I drove home. It made me think about summer for a minute. For almost a whole minute I missed it.