The Smells of Summer

I once read that smell is the sense most keenly linked to memory, and I can certainly attest to that theory.  When I was 14 or so I went away to camp in Ithaca for two weeks.  I am still brought back to the dorms and the grounds there when I smell Alberto V05 strawberries and cream shampoo.  I had bought the cheapest thing I saw for camp because my bottle at home was nearly drained, and I never really used the shampoo again after that, so it's smell is a powerful memory trigger.

During summer there are a lot of smells that signal my most favorite and beloved season.  Yesterday, the temperature here in the Hudson Valley nearly reached 100 degrees, and of course I spent much of the day in the comfort of the pool.  In my mind, chlorine is one of the best smells ever.  It evokes multi-sensory images of the West Point pool in High School, the Highlands Country Club in grade school, and Pop's pool through the years.  I love it.  Last week we had a sun shower one afternoon, and for some reason the smell of rain hitting hot dirt and asphalt always makes me inordinately happy.  And of course, what says summer better than the glorious aroma of burgers cooking on the grill?  My mom and her siblings always say that they love the smell of gasoline because it reminds them of Pop when he would come home from work years ago.  My brothers and I have a similar affinity for the residual smell of cigarettes on wool.

Smell is unequivocally tied to our past emotions and experiences, and there's something about the summertime - maybe it's the heat or the humidity, I don't know - that heightens my sense of smell and makes me indelibly grateful for all the good things in life.  As the scent of the grill or the pool or the cut grass washes over me, I suddenly don't mind the oppressive heat, the sunburn, or the huge bugs that sometimes get in my way, because I'm just so lucky to be here.

Yippee!

We're smack dab in the middle of the first full week of summer vacation.  Honestly, there was a moment or two mid-June when I thought we'd never get here, but now the school year has ended fairly smoothly and the next one will surely be here in a flash.  I spent the early days off finishing up classroom funding proposals on Donors Choose (which you should check out here and donate to, by the way).  I've now transitioned into working on my tan at Pop's pool and whiling away hours playing with Lola.  Ever since I started teaching, I've found myself so busy with work during the school year and so raring to go in the summer that I basically try to pack a whole year's worth of fun into two short months.  Lately I've also started to feel the need for new and fresh traditions with the family and friends, some of which I'm working on this July and August.  Here's what I've got on the docket for summer 2011:

• Yanks/Rays game tomorrow night.  Went to a ballgame with my brothers last year; this time around it's me and 16 others in my crazy family.  Hilarity will undoubtedly ensue.  It's looking like Jeter's three-thousandth hit may take place while we drink beers together in the grandstand.  Awesome. 
• Playtime with cousins.  My dad's cousin's kids are in town from Florida for a few weeks, and I'll be playing with them and taking them around town for much of July.  Definitely planning on going to the Bear Mountain Zoo, the Ice Cream Shoppe in Highland Falls, Children's Museum in Poughkeepsie, and some pools around Garrison/Cold Spring.  Where else should we go?    
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Holy Cannoli I cannot wait to see this movie.  Just watching the trailers gives me major goosebumps.  I started reading the HP books when I was 14, and I love the story so very much.  Too grown-up for the little cousins though, so I'll see it with the older ones or with Michael.  
• Housewarming party at the new apartment.  This is mostly to encourage me to get the new place set up in a timely fashion. Hopefully I'll get this together pre-wedding, but it may not happen until September.
• Bachelorette party.  Girls, spa, lake, mountains, kayaks, etc.  
• Wedding.  Marriage.  Yikes.  I think this means there are no more doubts that we're actually grown-ups.  I also think I may always feel like adulthood is impending and looming rather than actually upon us.  
• Honeymoon in Thailand (after a 20 something hour flight that is).  Nearly three full weeks touring a far away country.  
• US Open.  Went last year for my uncle Joe's birthday, and second annual tennis fun night will take place early this September.  This year, Mama Hask will join us for a Friday night match in Arthur Ashe stadium. 
• Untold hours of relaxation, swimming, reading, lying in the sun, planning for next year (yes, this is actually something I enjoy; yes, I know that I am a nerd),  and doing whatever else I want to do.

Good summer = the understatement of the year. 

The Roller Coaster

Memorial Day is less than a week away.  You know what that means; summer is nearly here.  This [school] year is truly flying by, and I am at once nostalgic, overwhelmed, and ecstatic about the onslaught of changes that are riding on my heels.  Por ejemplo:

1. My first class of sixth graders moves on from our little school next month, graduating to high schools all over Brooklyn and Manhattan.  They were so little when I was their teacher just a few years ago.  Now they are teenagers about to turn a major page in their lives.  In a lot of communities around the country, the transitions from elementary to middle to high school are not such a big deal.  In New York City, there are a myriad of factors in kids' lives that change at warp speed during these points - your school, your friends, your commute, your uniform, to name just a few.  When this group of kids came to us, most of them had been considered the shining stars of their old schools and classes, and with good reason.  That transition is difficult, but now they're so much smarter and so much better.  I hope that they go through the same process smoothly in ninth grade, and that they continue to be pushed and challenged by their schools and their peers.  I can't believe they're leaving.

2. We are moving to Queens.  Our new lease has been signed and we will say goodbye to Kings County (at least as our place of residence) in about a month.  Our new neighborhood is quiet, residential, and green.  The New York City rental market is a rapid enterprise, so we essentially decided on this apartment in the blink of an eye when we saw the kitchen.  Needless to say, I am slightly apprehensive about the process of moving, as well as the new, traffic-encumbered drive to work.  Like many, I am a creature of habit, resistant to change of many kinds and happy to be settled into a predictable routine.  Upsets to the delicate balance I've created are not necessarily welcome, even when they are necessary or beneficial.  Nevertheless, the new apartment is quite satisfactory and I am excited to settle into a new routine with a new borough as the homestead.

3.  The wedding is very fast approaching.  Last night I had a strange and alarming dream in which we were a week before nuptials and it came to my attention that invitations had somehow never been mailed.  I realize in my awake state that this doesn't make sense, as I would have suspected a problem earlier due to lack of RSVPs, and my dream never addressed whether this accident was my fault or his, which I also looked back on with perplexity.  Whatever, it was a dream.  The point is that (back to the dream state now) I did not feel nearly as anxious as would be considered normal over such a massive glitch, and I simply told Mike to call everyone, apologize, and ask if they were coming.  As my dream self, the consuming emotion I experienced was not stress, worry, or panic, but rather anticipation.  It was not the kind of anticipation that ails you when you want to get something over with, it was the sort that you feel when the whole world appears to be at your fingertips.  So this is how I woke up in the morning, with an eager composure and delight that assures me: amidst the end of year madness, the upcoming move, and the impending wedding planning crunch, life is generally great.