I’ve been making a conscious attempt to enjoy the “summer-ness” of every day.

What does that mean? Well, there are just certain things that mean summer – and I don’t want to wake up in September and think “darn, I missed it this year.” 

What does summertime mean to you?

For me, it’s colored by recollections of childhood. Eating watermelon; catching lightning bugs; running through sprinklers, the sweet smell of honeysuckle…to me, summer means nature and plants.

Last weekend, some good friends came by and brought their young children ages 2 and 3. We got out the garden hose and the kids, including my two ages 1 ½ and 4; proceeded to turn our backyard into a mudfest. One of my best memories of the summer of ’08 will be my friends’ son, covered in mud from head to toe with blackberry juice running down his chin.

Sometimes I think we underestimate the impact of these seemingly small experiences. Every day as we leave the house, my daughter pauses to check on her plants – a tomato growing in a container and a few sunflowers planted near our front door. This morning she reminded me the tomatoes need to turn red before we pick them and we will need to wash them before we eat them. Then she told her plants “good-bye,” blew them a kiss and climbed in the car.

And it occurs to me that childhood, like summer, is way too fleeting.

Beth Monroe is public relations and marketing director at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.

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