One Southern Woman's Summer

One of the niceties of living in a small, college town in the South, is seeing how much it changes when the students are gone. Everything seems to slow down a bit. The roads are less crowded, the stores are less busy, and the summer starts to move in with this newfound calm.

Early mornings are brought to life by the sound of lawnmowers and weedeaters prepping for upcoming barbecues. Men no longer wear cologne for the store-bought smell is replaced by sweat, grass clippings and charcoal. In the South, you start early for a barbecue.

By mid-morning, you can tell the heat is going to be stifling. It clings to your skin like a thin sweater that you just can't shake, even in the comfort of an air-conditioned room. And as the day warms on, the streets start to turn to mirages where half ghost images dance in the shimmer of the asphalt beginning to melt. The air becomes thickly sweet with the smell of begonias, honeysuckle and the last bit of wisteria.

Late afternoon brings a rush to the day. Everyone is trying to get settled for the evening. The sound of children laughing can be heard for miles. Beer and iced tea is being brought out to the patio and a menagerie of meat and vegetables are finally plopped on the grill. The smell is overwhelming and incites hunger in an instant. The chatter of birds mix with the chatter of friends and family. The crickets don't mix with anyone and just about the time the food comes off the grill, the bugs have reached a loud roar.

After dinner is done, the dishes are cleared and everyone has gone their separate ways, the summer night strolls in. Still thick from the heat of the day, but less weighty. A slight breeze rustles the trees and makes windchimes tinkle, ever so slightly. With the bugs calming down a little, people leave the sofa, the television, the video games and return to nature. It gets so very quiet.

And when the summer day is finally closing down for the night, you can hear the faint sound of metal on metal as friends and lovers alike, swing on porch swings and listen to the night. I swear, when it gets that quiet and calm, you can just almost hear the sound of ice cubes clinking into the last glass of tea before bedtime. Lightening bugs make yards sparkle and stars peek out of the deep blue sky. Everything is peaceful when a large yellow moon reaches down and kisses us all good night.