June is my very favorite month of the whole year. It may have started when I was a kid since my birthday is in June. I don’t give a hoot about my birthday these days, but I still love June. June is typically that really wonderful time when spring is patiently waiting for summer to arrive. Typically in June, it’s not terribly hot, or if it is hot, the smothering humidity has not yet arrived, which can make for some very pleasant days. June is the month that my kids are finished with school. When they were young, I think I looked forward to and celebrated the last day of school as much as they did. I so anticipated one lazy day stretching into another lazy day…an endless stream of days of sleeping in, swimming lessons, going to the park, eating popsicles, blowing bubbles and drawing masterpieces and hopscotch on the driveway with sidewalk chalk.
Well, those days are LONG gone…although the kids have definitely taken sleeping in to a whole new level. While I used to be thrilled if they slept until 8 am on a summer day, now, I now text them from work repeatedly at noon to tell them to haul their lazy butts out of bed. And long gone are the lazy days of swimming and going to the park since I work now. Those days have been replaced with days of me coming home from work to discover bowls with congealed cereal, half empty water bottles, empty apple sauce jars, granola bar wrappers and empty chip bags scattered all over my kitchen and family room along with wet towels and tshirts and more empty water bottles strewn around the back yard. And the pantry is usually empty of all food that was purchased just the day before. While my kids are lounging on the couch in a zombie-like state brought on by eating so much food all day.
But all that aside, I still love June, and I still look forward to the kids being out of school The grass in my yard is still green in June, and it is weeks away from turning brown and crunchy. In June, I rarely have to turn on the sprinkler. Our pool is newly opened. Flowers are freshly planted. The whirring sound of lawn mowers and the smell of freshly cut grass fills the fresh air most evenings. In June, even though it may be hot during the day, by night time, the temperature often drops to a cool, comfortable temperature, enticing me to head to my front porch with a glass of wine and a book. At the beginning of June, the warm summer days seem endless. It is hard for me to imagine or remember the ice and chill of winter. At the beginning of June, I try not to think about the hot and steamy days of July and August that I know are coming.
In June, I buy fresh strawberries from produce stands almost daily and eat them sliced on peanut butter toast for breakfast, chopped on top of salads for lunch, and covering ice cream for late night dessert. Sometimes in June, I even go pick my own strawberries, and if I’m really feeling ambitious, I make jars of strawberry preserves, stacking them in the freezer, knowing that those jars of sugary red yumminess will fulfill my need for summer strawberries throughout the winter.
It’s June now. Today for the first time this summer, I wore my favorite white skirt to work. I am sitting here at my desk listening to the sound of the 13 year cicadas that have recently hatched and thinking once again how much I love June. I have flats of purple and white and yellow flowers on my front porch waiting to be planted. And, I have 28 more glorious days to enjoy my favorite month.
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