Summer loves and sweet memories...

      August -- purple loosestrife in the marshes,
      Goldenrod and Queen Ann’s Lace in country lanes.
      Still time left for picnics and sunburns,
      Summer loves and thunder in the night.
      But the sun sinks sooner every day,
      And the hush at twilight whispers,
     “September.” - Helen DePrima




Summer romance, the stuff of songs and movies and memories. Didn’t we all enjoy the heartthrobs and heartaches of a crush on the hunky lifeguard who grinned at the skinny fourteen-year-old worshiping at the foot of his throne or the high school football hero who mowed the lawn?



In my case, I fell hopelessly in love with Les, the handsome teen aged wrangler on a Colorado dude ranch. I functioned somewhere between staff and unpaid intern (I slept in the kitchen girls’ bunkhouse); my status earned me the privilege of tagging along with the older help and riding out alone without a guide. Because I learned to ride almost before I could walk, I even got called on to help Les gather the horses for lesser dudes’ morning ride. He didn’t return the next summer although I did, but I’ll never forget his good-humored tolerance of my adoration.

Saying goodbye to the boy I dated my senior year in high school was more poignant. I can’t call Mick my boyfriend -- he was beginning his studies for the priesthood at the end of the summer – but we loved each other the best way we could and treasured every moment before I left for college in Colorado and he to enter the seminary. I learned some years later he had renounced his vocation; by then I was married with two children. Can’t help but wonder, what if . . . But traveling with eyes on the rear-view mirror is a dangerous and futile practice.

by Helen DePrima

I didn't date much in high school, but the summer after I graduated, I made up for lost time. Although I wanted to fall in love with someone in the worst way, I don't think I did. However...

Carl was an air force sergeant, four years older than my 18. He was tall and lean and Southern and so funny. We saw each other nearly every day for part of the summer, then I went to work and I think he found someone more sophisticated to spend time with. I'd love to see him again and know how he's doing. I hope he's happy.



To tell the truth, my greatest summer loves were probably in books. I adored Spark Plug in Janet Lambert's Patty and Ginger series. I thought Sue Barton's Dr. Bill Barry was perfect. I read Little Women more times than I can count, but if I'd known about fan fiction then, I would have rewritten it so that Jo and Laurie ended up together under that umbrella in the next-to-the-last chapter. I loved Anne's Gilbert, Gene Stratton-Porter's Freckles, and every hero in every book Betty Cavanna wrote. I still wonder who Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm married, because Mr. Ladd, alas, was way too old.


Make no mistake--I wanted to be popular and be in love from the time the first hormones made their presence known, but it didn't happen. I'm grateful I had the books instead. I read them lying on a blanket outside in the sun, with a mixture of iodine and baby oil ensuring that if I ever did have a summer boyfriend, I was going to have a good tan. (I never said anything about being smart...)


The second summer after graduation, I did meet a summer love, although Uncle Sam hijacked him in July. He came back to stick around for all the seasons since. I'd never read the poem in Helen's part of the post, but I'm happy to have lived it.


We've had a good time with our summer's-end reminiscences. Tell us about your summer loves.


by Liz Flaherty


A big P. S. here. I just got the cover for my December book, The Happiness Pact. Isn't it cool? And available for pre-order along with the boxed set for December. I love sharing the month with Beth Carpenter, Catherine Lanigan, and Rula Sinara! Keep an eye out for prizes and things!







Comments

  1. This post brought back so many summertime memories. One summer, my best friend and I had crushes on two guys who were best friends. They lived in the neighborhood next door to ours. If Fitbits were around in the early 80's, we would have broken some records for the most steps taken. Great post!

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    1. Oh, fun! I remember dating a friend of a friend's boyfriend once--it got a little weird when one of us broke up. :-)

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    2. I can relate to Liz's experience. Mick was my next-door cousin's best friend, which led to a sad misunderstanding.

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  2. I love your cover, Liz! And your poem, Helen! What a beautiful post and the perfect time to reminisce. I must say that I think most of my crushes were in books or movies. I think my first was on Timothy Hutton in Taps.

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    1. Isn't that poem beautiful? Timothy Hutton was definitely crush-worthy.

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    2. Hi Rula -- glad you enjoyed my effort at poetry. I haven't offered a poem for public scrutiny since high school.

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  3. Loved this post, Helen and Liz, that took me back to my 16th summer and my first-ever summer 'love'! Your book cover is great Liz - such a comfy, natural scene - and I look forward to it. Helen, such a lovely poem and your last line is one to remember --"traveling with eyes on the rear-view mirror..." Thank you ladies!

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    1. Hi Janice -- Yes, looking back with fondness is fine, but dwelling on "what if" can poison "what is."

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  4. What a great blog post. Helen's poem is lovely, as are your early loves. As you've made me look back on some of mine I can smile and be happy I didn't end up with some of my early crushes. It's good to have so many book heroes now.

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    1. Hi Roz -- I think my first literary crush was Owen Wister's The Virginian, my idea of the perfect hero. Imagine how thrilled I felt to ride the same landscape as a teenager; no wonder I fell in love with the cowboy. My plan was to meet and marry one at the University of Colorado. Bad planning -- all the cowboys were 45 miles north, at Colorado State, but I'm still going strong with guy I did meet, 55 years this summer.

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    2. I'm glad I didn't end up with one of the early ones, too, although curiosity does compel me to admit I wonder where a few of them are & hope they're happy.

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  5. Ladies, fabulous post. Oh, how I wanted a summer love like Danny and Sandy (from Grease). Alas, it never happened for me either. Liz, I LOVE that cover. And what a great December lineup.

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    1. I'm so lucky to be part of that lineup! I'm glad I missed out on the first love in favor of the last one. :-)

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  6. The sound of your poem, Helen! You've captured that long breathiness of August...so lovely! Liz, if Anne of Green Gables couldn't see what a catch Gilbert Blythe was, then fine, I would snap him up. I love your cover, too. All the reds make it so festive.

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    1. Thanks for your kind words. Growing up a farm kid, I've always marked the seasons by plants blossoming and fading, the return and departure of migratory birds. My "farm" is now just a bit over an acre, but I'm deep into making applesauce from my Red Gravenstein tree. And yes, Gilbert is such a mensch!

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    2. Oh, yes, Gilbert...although I have to admit he was made more real (and lovely) to me by Jonathan Crombie in the 80s TV/movie version.

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  7. Lovely post, ladies! I had a brief summer romance with a boy from Ottawa while vacationing at Georgian Bay. And a longer crush on a boy I worked with at my local library. There were many ups and downs. There's nothing like that first love...

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    1. Hi Leigh -- Summer seems to add a gloss of romance to everything. In Kentucky, the heat of the day mellowed with evening when the fireflies came out, perfect for long walks holding hands or sitting by the Ohio watching the Belle of Lousiville or the Delta Queen steam out on evening cruises.

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  8. Thanks for the post--and the memory triggers. My first real love, my high school/early college sweetheart, and I remained close friends through our adult life, even after going our separate ways romantically. He was a professional speaker and we coauthored a couple of books. We helped each other deal with aging parents and such. Just all around close friends. Then he died a while back, very suddenly. He'll always be one of the special people I was lucky enough to have in my life. I loved your posts and all the comments.

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    1. What a special gift that your first love developed into a lifelong friendship.

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    2. I'm sorry for your loss, but what a great friendship.

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  9. My first love was Bob McGargill. He was the fry cook and I was a bus girl at a family owned Italian restaurant. I was an awkward 15. He was an awkward 15. Yes, it counts as summer love because we worked summers LOL

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    1. I imagine you both worked like slaves, which probably enhanced your time off together.

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  10. The summer between high school and college, two guys working as summer interns lived in the same apartment building as my best friend, and we all spent some fun time together. Wow, haven't thought of him in years. That summer has a late 70s top 40 soundtrack in my memory. Remember Sad Eyes?

    Love the poem.

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  11. Hi Beth -- The summer between high school and college seems to be especially charged with emotion: leaving the security of home and old friends, facing new challenges. So comforting but sometimes bittersweet to cling relationships that often don't survive beyond the first semester's separation.

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  12. Thanks for the fun post, ladies. I look forward to reading your December release, Liz!

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  13. What a great post! I met a boy when I spent a few weeks at my grandpa's house one summer. He was bagging groceries at the little market where I shopped for my grandpa. He asked if he could call. It was so cute. Because our two towns were only 20 miles a part, we planned to see each other once school started. But I got caught up in school and we never did. I still wonder about him.

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    1. There's a sweetness to that wondering, isn't there?

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  14. What nice posts. Took me way back. My summer love became my first ever boyfriend. My mom allowed him to come with us to a carnival in our neighborhood once. I was completely smitten with that boy. He was in my class and I had the biggest crush on him. When he went away to High School (he was very smart), I didn't think I'd live through it. I used to spend up all of my allowance money calling him. It was a shared phone at his school dorm, and when we got to talk we'd stay on the phone until we fell asleep! It was ridiculous. We stayed together, off and on, until I found the other love of my life of nearly 23 years. I think what we had was more than puppy love, but I KNOW what I have now is the real thing.

    I LOVE that cover, Liz Flaherty. It's so warm and inviting. Makes me think of a beautiful Fall day. Probably because I'm tired of these super hot days and welcome cooler weather. I'm purchasing these upcoming Heartwarming books for sure. Thanks for the memories ladies.

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    1. Wow, what a first boyfriend story! I do remember falling asleep with a phone in my hand, though. Thanks, Laurie.

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  15. My first boyfriend was a good-looking Italian boy two years older than I was. I thought I'd die when we broke up...but I lived. lol. A couple of years ago he tracked me down on LinkedIn and wanted to reconnect, but I turned him down. I am in a long term relationship and it didn't seem a good idea. Besides, he didn't have his photo on his LinkedIn page and he didn't have a FB page...:-)

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    1. I agree, it probably was a good idea not to reconnect, but it does kind of leave you wondering a little, doesn't it?

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