Summer Means a Great Many Things to

Summer means a great many things to me. It is far more than its dry dictionary definition. It is about enjoying the outdoors, and surviving family holidays. Ultimately, summer is about freedom from everyday life, and a sense of potential and hopes.

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines summer as "the season between spring and autumn comprising in the northern hemisphere usually the months of June, July, and August or as reckoned astronomically extending from the June solstice to the September equinox." While this may be the official and correct definition of summer, it doesn't begin to describe what summer means to me. Summer is about being outdoors. Trees sway in the slight breezes, and wispy clouds roll overhead.

It is best experienced by pitching a tent in the forest or on the beach, and taking in the smells and sounds of a roaring campfire at night. Summer holidays take you to new places, with a carload of the most familiar people in your life: your family. Holidays are spent hearing the roar of the car tires on asphalt, and staring at the world passing you by outside the car windows.

Eventually, you make your way to a relative's house, where you spend the days barbecuing in their back yard, and taking advantage of their swimming pool. Soon you're on the road again, with the windows rolled down, and anticipating your next destination. Ultimately, summer is a time of freedom from responsibility and cares. It is a time of baseball games on dusty neighborhood fields, and swims in chlorine-laced outdoor swimming pools. Summer is a time of lounging in the backyard, and watching B. movies until late into the.