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