Summer

Our neighbor gave us a bag of fresh green beans from the garden and last night I cooked them.  Before steaming them with butter I snapped the beans and this mundane chore instantly brought me back to my childhood.  I remember hot sweaty evenings sitting on the front porch with the grown women, snapping beans from the garden.  I would try to listen to the adult conversations which seemed ultimately more interesting than my child sized interests.  We also spent long hours shucking corn and I remember feeling wary because the removal of each husk could mean the discovery of a embedded bug larva.

These front porch memories seem to epitomize the summers of my childhood.  We enjoyed slow hot days, marveled at the creation of "sun tea," and watched my mom work long hours in the garden.  Last night I taught JAC how to snap beans and I couldn't help but smile.  I was handing him the heritage of summer.

These simple summer memories bring me so much pleasure.  I wonder, what memories symbolize summer for you?  In this heatwave filled summer, what is your summer heritage?