A Still Summer Moment

Summer is a short season in West Coast Canada. Having spent the first thirty years of my life in South Africa, with its abundance of sunshine, both summer and winter, and a summer season that is five to six months in duration, the two months of hot weather we get on the West Coast is decidedly short. Yet, the upside is, I appreciate the season so much more.

The water droplets scatter high. The hum of the sprinkler, it's rotation from left to right, the hot sun, the cloudless sky and I am six again in the backyard of our house on Carey Street: running through the sprinkler, half naked, laughing and calling loudly to my younger brother, the sound of summer. There was no sparkling pool in our backyard when I was a child. And there didn't need to be one to enjoy summer.

Now, a few water drops freshen my skin and I feel the coolness of the air as the sprinkler brushes past me. A sprinkler, a still summer moment and a small reminder: don't focus on what you don't have, rather, live life, make memories where you are and enjoy simple pleasures.