Reasons We Live For Summer

• FISHING.
• There are no school nights for three months.  THREE MONTHS! We can stay up with glow sticks and sparklers and movies on the Disney channel.  
• Bare feet or flip flops; either way...it's a glorious way to live.
• Milkshakes. (Or any other form of ice cream, but this is the pinnacle of ice cream perfection....) 
• Campfires, which occur on non-school nights wearing only flip flops or nothing on feet.
• Running through the sprinkler! 
• Windows open 24/7, drowning in fresh air....aaaahhhh....
• Days that last for approximately 18 hours, give or take a couple on either end of summer. (That's not a "fact", but it sure feels good to say it...)
• Tomatoes
• No school nights!!!! Did I mention that already?
• Baseball. (Go Red Sox!) (No. Really. GO!!! Hit, run, field, pitch strike outs....GO!!!!)
• Running in shorts...not insulated coveralls or fleece lined anything or stocking caps.
• Digging in the dirt. All of us.
• Fat, black cows with gorgeous big calves in a green pasture, grazing and growing the best steaks in the United States, amen. 
• Sidewalk chalk pictures of happy things, bright imaginations on display fearlessly.
• Bubbles
• Lakes and boats and eating chips in swimming suits before hitting the water again....barefoot, on an 18 hour day, before a campfire where the best steaks in the United States are grilled. 
• G&Ts on the deck....or at aforementioned lake.
• Friends and family in the Redneck Guesthouse!  We don't really get company the rest of the year, but in the summer our loved ones come sleep in our ancient camper/bunkhouse until they can't stand it. (About 3 days is the brave average.)
• Hammocks.
• Geraniums in pots that are, yes, predictable and unoriginal, but dear...and we have to water them every day. 
• Vacation Bible School...I'm going on nearly 20 years of VBS (with stops and starts in the middle), my kids have been every year of their life.  God touches lives here, you all; pray for your local VBS leaders and kids.
• Car windows down, hair blowing, Eagles blasting from the speakers....
• County fairs.
• COLOR!  Oh, my goodness....for 9 months of the year, all we see is grey, brown, and the occasional John Deere green on the tractor. In the summer we see dandelion yellow, popsicle blue, the indescribably beautiful red-white-and-blue of our nation's flag, green winter wheat, orange sunsets....we're so thirsty for color, and for three months of the year we just soak it up.
• Rodeos. My kids don't see nearly enough, but rodeo = summer to me.
• The smell of warm sagebrush....  I'm pretty sure God will pipe that into Heaven for us.
• Birdsong.  It's silent here, except for the wind.  The larks and blackbirds are the soundtrack to summer on the prairie in the summer.
• Branding smoke.  Oh, for homesick if you're gone this time of year!
• Potato salad and potato chips.  I know you can make it any time of the year but it really and truly is seasonal for me. 
• Swimming til cold, sear on the shore, repeat...
• Beer. Don't judge.
• No school nights. For three months. Barefoot. 18 hour days.

To be continued...

(Why do YOU live for summer?)