The Boys of Summer...




Nobody on the road,nobody on the beach.


I feel it in the air,the summers out of reach


Empty lake, empty streets,the sun goes down alone.


I'm driving by your house, though I know that you're not home...


And I can see you, your brown skin shining in the sun


You got your hair combed back, sunglasses on, baby


And I can tell you, my love for you will still be strong


After the boys of summer have gone.


Some things you can never have back. I used to complain (a little) about the full yard I seemed to have, every summer, for almost as long as I can remember. Our summers here at the Atchley House could have easily been entitled, "The Summers of Boys". Boys in the yard, boys in the trees, boys in the cul-de-sac, and the steady bounce-bounce-bounce of perpetual basketball games.


But school has started this year, already. And for the first time, I realized....this was it. This was the very last and final installment of the Boys of Summer.


For they are all becoming young men.


The tears flow, sudden and unexpected, like a summer storm, even as I sit here typing. My oldest boy has already faded away from the summer scene, having worked full time when school let out, for a couple of years now. Next summer, my youngest, I am sure, will be working full time - doubtlessly saving his money for the coveted Teenaged Ride.


I know. It is a different take, a different perspective on the classic Don Henley song. Lyrics and art can be pliable like that, sometimes. They can be re-interpreted. I won't hear the "Boys of Summer" in quite the same way, ever again. Summertime will never be the same, either. It will have to be re-sung and re-interpreted and re-invented...the lyrical beat of sunrise and sunset, and hot days, and no school, and popsicles will someday apply to future grandsons.


Freckled faces, dark tans, plastic sunglasses from the Dollar Store, water hoses full force, and all the shouting that somehow has changed from tenor into bass. It will vanish, and is vanishing before my eyes. I've never been one to be maudlin. I move from one season into the next rather seamlessly, compared to many. But oh, what I wouldn't give to be able to convince myself that the Boys of Summer - my boys - will still be out there in the sun, young and fresh faced and innocent....forever.


They will live on that way, in my heart. In that mother's heart of mine that aches, sometimes.


Oh yes. "I can tell you, my love for you will still be strong...after the boys of summer have gone..."

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awww yes the Boys of Summer! I have been through that season, to be a season of Girls and Boys of Summer!! Now mine are the Grandkids of Summer.
I find myself looking at and longing for the sweet smell of an infant. Am I crazy or what!! Me with 7 grandkids....LOL

Love ya
Vickie

Anonymous said...

Lump in my throat...
Tears in my eyes...
Feeling your poignant and specific pain...
Every son and daughter deserves to be honored with 'such pain' in their mother's heart, I think, but daresay some miss the moment because of all sorts of distractions.
Love to all on D__ Lane!

Thru Pink Curtains said...

everyone else is crying and so am i just about...i wish my kids were home too and the boys would be in the back seat of the car punching each other all the way to town.

now they are gone married doing their own thing and i can onlly pray for them.
Cheer up grand kids are coming!!!!

Sheila Atchley said...

I will take your encouragement to heart! I look forward to grand kids - so, so much. Thank you for your comment...it made me laugh, at the mental image of little boys, punching each other "all the way to town". :-)

Tim Atchley said...

We are so one. A the same time this was gripping you it was gripping me on my way home from Nashville. But I could have never said it the way you did, I can only share the reflection and emotion. Who would have ever thought we would be used of God to produce such great kids?

I too miss the little buggers trampling my grass under foot until all that was left was dirt patches.

I will give up great green grass for the joyous noise of playful innocence anyday. What a journey it has been and who knows what lies ahead. One thing is certain, God is good!

Anonymous said...

Oh WOW! That was great Sheila, thank you although I am not there yet I am on my way. I look at mine babies and wonder how it will be once they are grown. Then I STOP myself and enjoy where I am! They gorw so fast.

Love you
BG

Sheila Atchley said...

BG~
You'll be there before you know it, trust me...love you, too. Thanks for taking the time to read!