What is it about summer that makes people feel so...good? Is it the whimsicality? The carefree feeling that comes after you've started to get antsy from being in school so long? The what seems like endless time to fill your day with petty activities? There is something about summer that makes everything seem so fresh, and wonderful. Even the word, summer rolls off the tongue as smooth as freshly churned ice cream.
Summer is enticing... and I think the whole world understands that. I think thats why, for example fruit, grows best in those summer months. The weather, (usually) is the most enjoyable. And people seem happier in the summer. It seems like the whole world before those summer months, wait, and almost seem dormant, wistful, as if their simply twiddling their thumbs anticipating that first hint of summer.
Well, its only human to have a burning desire to have a period of time to do nothing. I mean who doesn't love to be carefree, especially when for the majority of the year were stuck going through the motions of our monotonous lives. I have pondered this idea of why summer is so... great, while licking an ice cream cone with the windows rolled down and the warm wind hitting my face and brushing through my hair. (I often get quite absorbed in thought while riding in the car for some reason.) To tell you the truth, the reason why people love summer is it is almost always the case that it is filled with nostalgia.
Ah, sweet, sweet nostalgia. It is bittersweet, yet usually wonderful. And usually when I think about nostalgia, my mind goes back to the summers of my childhood.
I loved, loved my summers as a kid. Recently, I was standing outside of a restraunt, just enjoying the sunset, and there it was...wafting up my nose, the familiar scent of my childhood. Surrounding me with its loving grasp, and enveloping me into its sweet embrace. Letting me rest in its arms. I believe it was hot dogs and beer, but that smell, made me feel like I was at home.
My summers were spent, nearly every day at the El Paso Diablo Baseball Club. (My dad was the Operations Manager.) I would go every single night to watch the Diablos, and I fell in love with everything about it. It became comforting to me, and even now when I think about it, I feel a familiar peace come over me. When I think about the Diablos, I think of 25 cent hot dogs, beer, fresh cut grass, peanuts, seeing my grandma in her same seat in section 7, being a baby chicken for the San Diego Chicken mascot, spending hours on bunker hill, playing in the press box, birthday parties at the All-Star Cafe, counting cars with my dad, even my dads co-workers and employees... Richard, Bernie, Manny... the list could go on, but I think I put it into perspective.
Although, I did have aspects of summers like other kids, endless days in the pool, where I spent so much time my hair started to have a green tint. Countless meals that consisted just of mac and cheese, hot dogs and popsicles. (My favorite were the ones shaped like crayons.) But, my most special memory is of the countless summer nights spent at the Diablos. Baseball holds a special sentiment in my heart. Maybe its because, that was a time in mine and my family's life that everything seemed... O.K.
I miss the stability, the people, the smells, the sights, I miss the Diablos.
I have learned that sometimes in life, its better to look at the past and be happy that God blessed you with such good times. Sometimes, you have to face the present, and just take it. Its true, I miss the Diablos, and the memories of my childhood, but I cant go back. I must look forward, and be ready to make new memories.
So here's to new memories. And here's to old ones, the ones that when we look back on and reminisce, we feel like were at home again. So Here's to The Diablos. Heres to summer.
Love, your die-hard baseball fan, Shelby.
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