I live in Texas and it gets really hot.  This year, the rest of the country is getting a taste of what is typical for us every summer.  I bet next year, when your summer returns to normal, you’ll be flocking to Texas, won’t you?  Because who doesn’t love to live in a constant state of perspiration?  

Probably not you.  Me either.  And neither does my dog.  A couple of days ago, I was out walking my dog, and his tongue was hanging to the sidewalk.  We were both miserable.  I wondered, when did I go from thinking summer days were the best days of my life to thinking they were miserably hot? 

When I was a kid, living in this state with this heat, I spent everysummer day outside, usually all day.  We started early on bikes or skateboards, and played hard until it was time to go swimming. We came home for lunch—usually something very healthy like bologna and cheese, haha (when is the last time you had a bologna and cheese?).  Then it was back out we went, usually to a swimming pool where we spent the better part of the day.  In the late afternoon, we’d be driven home by hunger again, and we would watch cartoons and eat junk food (Ho-ho’s being a summer staple) until Mom called us for dinner.  Once that was over and done, back out we went to play Kick the Can…over the entire neighborhood.

We did not watch a lot of TV.  We did not have the sort of video games there are today.  We had our bodies and our imaginations and many long summer days.  And in my memory, it was heaven. I don’t remember being hot. I do remember the dogs would dig big holes under the shrubs and sleep there during the day, but I don’t know if that’s because they were hot or sleepy.  

But somewhere along the way, summer started to feel really hot. It started to feel heavy and sweaty and oh no, I didn’t put on sunscreen this morning.  I do get out every day, but I don’t think it’s that much fun anymore because…(sigh)…it. Is. So. Hot.  When did that happen?  

ONE SEASON OF SUNSHINE is set in a Texas summer.  I hope I made it sound more like the summers of my youth and not the summers of a middle-aged woman.  There are a couple of mentions of the heat, but that’s just me creeping into my book, complaining about how hot it is.  The book is about a woman who goes in search of her birth mother, but discovers so much more in the process.  She never mentions the heat.  Summer suits her, and especially that summer.  Personally, if I were reading the book, I would read it next to a pool.  

What were your summers like when you were a kid? 

Take a look at the book video for ONE SEASON OF SUNSHINE. Also, one person who comments will win an MP3 audio version of the book.

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