Summer. I love everything about summer—the long days, the sunshine, the heat. Yes, the heat. This big girl loves the hot weather. I don’t even care what kind of heat. I lived in Bakersfield, CA, where the heat was regularly over 100 in the summer. Even dry heat is hot above a certain level. I’ve lived in Florida, where taking a shower is pointless once you step outside. I don’t care. I’ll take either one.

I’m back in my home state of Indiana where summers are hot and humid. That’s okay. I’ve rarely been too hot in my life.

What I really love about summer is the freedom I feel to just be me. I can sit in my backyard for hours with a glass of tea watching the bees, butterflies, and birds.  I usually outlast the dogs who go back in the house because their black fur makes being outside a little uncomfortable.

Summer brings up my memories of childhood where I left the house as soon as I woke up in the morning and played outside with my friends until lunchtime. After lunch, we ‘d return to playing baseball, climbing trees, running through the hose, and other things most kids don’t do anymore. After dinner, play resumed until dark. Had to be home by dark or else mom would yell out the window for me to come home. And believe me, my mom’s voice could carry across the couple acres that separated me from my friend’s houses.

We roamed the fields, built forts, rode bicycles, ate tomatoes from each other’s gardens, and created objects from the clouds billowing overhead. In fact, our parents wouldn’t even allow us in the house during the day except for meals or if it were raining, we got a pass to play inside, which always turned out to be boring.

Outside was our life.

For me, it still is. I spend as much time as I can outside all summer long. When I’m writing, I take my laptop onto the deck and spend the day in another world while I’m in my happy place.

Heat is so important to me, the weather sort of became a character in my book Captured Hearts. My heroine despises the cold, and she ends up in Wisconsin. The snow and freezing cold has a real effect on how she deals with life.

Summer is when I feel my real self. I’m happier. I’m nicer. I’m more productive. I want to be around other people. In the winter not so much. That first warm day, I’ll see Facebook memes and posts about falling leaves, hot chocolate, and pumpkins. No. Please just let me have my time. Let me have my outdoor concerts and dining. Let me have my carnivals and corndogs. Let me have the hot sun’s rays on my face.

Let’s embrace our summer.

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