I think my absolute favorite thing about summer is the effluence of light. Whether  spoken as an adjective, a noun, or a verb…light is everywhere, and in everything.  From the sun that freckle-kisses your skin, to the starlight that salts the sky…from the barely-there fabrics reminding you how to breathe, to the palest Queen Anne’s Lace  blooming on the edges of well-worn roads…there is light. There is bright. There is a sparkler’s glitter, a bonfire’s kindling igniting each of us until we not only see the light,  but become it ourselves.  

That is the power of summer. That is her intangible magic and musing charm. Summer is a held breath…a perfectly paused moment…an unexpected smile. She is the toasted marshmallow’s bittersweetness of too swift days and nights. Spring is  delicate and ethereal, Fall is brilliant with passion, and Winter is glazed in hushed  wonder…but Summer holds her own charms and secrets. In the stretch of the year  where “anything-is-possible,” how can we help but fall in love again and again with  nature’s best expression of personified joy?  

This season, catch her enchantment by dwelling in the memories you make.  Collect glowing thoughts in the mason jars of your minds just to celebrate the echo of  incandescence. Then, when you’re quite full and ready to share…sprinkle your joy like  stardust on the waiting world. Here are a few lights to get you started!   

Summer Lights: 35 Joys That Brighten Us From the Inside

1. Crystal sugar dipped strawberries  
2. Pale yellow lemonade sipped through a striped straw 
3. A parade of rainbow pool towels draped over fences to dry in the sun 
4. The smell of ink on paper as you skim the pages of your summer reading list
5. Counting a thousand stars, and choosing the perfect one to hold your wish 
6. The regal song of frogs…hundreds of princes in waiting 
7. Farmer’s markets, fresh with the glory of what can be grown 
8. Dewdrops impossibly suspended on the edges of grass blades 
9. Wildflowers…just wildflowers 
10. The magic of first fireflies 
11. The balloon that got away – waving goodbye in the sky 
12. Night walks under a lamplit moon 
13. Sea salt kisses that linger and swell  
14. Making optimistically long to do lists (unconcerned if they remain unfinished) 
15. Building intricate sandcastles, full knowing beauty is temporary 
16. Sleeping with one foot out and flipping to the cool side of your pillow 
17. Reveling in the delicious splash a puddle can make 
18. Fingers dancing with the wind as you drive to get lost 
19. Dresses that twirl with a personality all their own 
20. The sprinkle of an impromptu sun rain 
21. Playing tag with the ocean…and losing  
22. Finding a perfect feather that shimmers iridescent  
23. Golden chandelier fireworks hanging like magic in the sky 
24. The feeling of cool tiles on summer feet 
25. Watching bubbles cascading – weightless and perfect living art 
26. Driving to get lost…to get found 
27. Pretending you are on a first date again
28. Raspberry iced tea with fresh lemons 
29. Antiquing and finding the piece that was looking for you all along 
30. Re-reading letters from first loves, last loves, and loves in-between 
31. Feeling the majesty of heaven as heat lightning races across bruised clouds 
32. Green tendril shoots uncurling themselves in a garden ballet 
33. Shadows that stretch long and lean as the sun sets 
34. A handful of acorns…or shall we call them kisses Peter Pan? 
35. The promise that tomorrow is another summer day

Elle Harris is a believer of impossible things. She is a lover of words, wonder, and the whimsical delights of everyday living. Caught in the creative place between reality and imagination is her favorite place to be. Please join Elle in pursuing life with intention, and grand conversation on her blog thisquotablelife.wordpress.com. Find Elle on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @ElleHarris82.

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