benandsteve.com

By Benjamin GroffMedia© | benandsteve.com | 2025 Truth Endures©

---

The Days of Summer

There is something about the days of summer that never quite leaves you. It is a scent in the air or a golden hue in the light. It is also the sound of cicadas warming up for their evening concert. For a child, summer feels like forever. For an adult, it feels like something you once held in your hands. You didn’t realize it would slip away so quickly.

I remember one summer, I must have been around eleven. We had a tire swing tied to the big oak tree out back. That tree had roots that curled up out of the ground like the backs of old hands. When it rained, they made little rivulets in the dirt. My brothers and I would race leaves down those muddy streams as if they were ships headed for faraway lands.

The days were long and hot, but we didn’t care. Shoes were optional. Supper was whenever someone called out loud enough for us to hear. Most days, we’d roam until we were sunburned and starving, a little wiser than we’d been that morning. There was always a watermelon cooling in the horse trough. We tried to swat away flies as we spit seeds into the grass, but we failed.

Evenings were for catching fireflies in jars. They were the kind with holes poked in the lid. We did this by using a nail we’d hammered with a rock. We thought we were giving them air. We didn’t yet know the difference between freedom and capture.

I think back on those days now and realize that summer isn’t just a season. It’s a feeling. You carry it in your chest long after the sweat has dried. The tan has faded. The swing has stopped creaking in the breeze.

It’s a reminder to slow down. To let the day last a little longer. To chase the light, even if it’s only for a little while.

---