Summer Dreams

I’m usually pretty patient with winter. I don’t know what happened this year, but I’m so done with cold weather. I find myself imagining it warm and thinking of all the things we could do with our time if it were nice outside.
One of my favorite things in life is being in the sun. I know I’m getting wrinkly from it, but growing up in a resort area of Minnesota leads to an addiction to all things lake. My friends and I spent hours and hours on the lake each summer, mostly on “floaties,” since we weren’t old enough to drive boats. Then when we were old enough, we spent hours and hours on pontoons and boats, wasting away the day, baking in the sun, and just simply hanging out. Ah, I dream of that now.
I would love a day on the lake. I can feel the breeze and the spray of water. I can picture myself looking up at the sky and noticing only one or two small clouds against a sea of perfect blue. My feet are hanging off the side of a pontoon, and it feels good to cool off when I jump in. I start to feel like I might be burning my nose and shoulders, so I apply sunblock for the first time of the day. A favorite song comes on the radio so we turn it up and everyone sings. Ugh, I think I might cry… because I really wish I were doing all of these things, but also because I realize that if this were happening, I’d most likely be wearing some kind of large, full-body covering to hide the stretch marks and belly fat…
But in my daydream, I look like I did when I was 23, spending my days on Green Lake. That girl is long gone, along with her bleach blonde hair, bronzed skin and bikini body. But I can dream, right? I still love the sun. I just won’t be caught dead in a two-piece! The next summers of my life will be spent soaking up the sun in the privacy of my own backyard while watching two little boys play in the sandbox. They have no judgements on bellies and they’re highly entertaining. We can sing together too. I can’t wait! Get this snow oughta here and bring on summer!
Oh, P.S. Another thing I love about summer is grilling. I LOVE grilled food.
Speaking of dreaming… last night I had one where we went to visit my parents and I was driving alone down their driveway and noticed that there were two lions sitting there. One of them jumped on the roof of my car and proceeded to try to eat me through the sun roof. We don’t have a sun roof, but whatever. Then somehow Ryan and Miles came to help. Miles said “don’t worry mommy, I will save the dave.” He tinkered with something in the car while Ryan pried the lion’s mouth off my arm. Then Asher woke up (in real life) so I don’t know if we all lived. But I’d like to think so. And I’d also like to think that in the dream, it was summer. Just for a nice touch. Analyze that!