Childhood Summer: We Could Have Never Loved The Earth So Well If We Had No Childhood In It
"What novelty is worth that sweet monotony where everything is known and loved because it is known?”
We could never have loved the earth so well if we had no childhood in it, if it were not the earth where the same flowers come up again every spring that we used to gather with our tiny fingers as we sat lisping to ourselves on the grass, the same hips and haws on the autumn hedgerows, the same redbreasts that we used to call ‘God’s birds’ because they did no harm to the precious crops. What novelty is worth that sweet monotony where everything is known and loved because it is known?
George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss
Dirt smeared across our legs and packed under our nails
Pick ice cream based on color, I’ll take a pink
dripping from the cone mixing in with the sunscreen atop our skin
Sour lemonades
Salty chips
Catch a butterfly, just gently pinch it’s wings
Peaches.
Follow the worms through the flowerbed
Honeysuckle pulled from the earth
Sun-stained and freckled shoulders
Eat the watermelon to the rind so it matches our smile
Dig our toes so deep into the sand till it becomes cool
It’s grains mixed in with the mayo and mustard
Chlorine fills up our nose
Do you see how wrinkley my fingers are?
Berries making our faces shine with pinks, purples, and blues
Blades of green grass poking our bare feet
Couldn’t tell you what I had for breakfast, had to hurry to get outside
don’t worry the light isn't going anywhere
Popsicle from the freezer
Water hose if your thirsty
Closing our eyes for bed, it’s golden out and I feel like I’m still in waves
I’m lucky. I get to spend a lot of time seeing the earth through children’s eyes.
Somewhere tiny hands are digging in the dirt, someone is tasting ice creaming for the first time, someone went into the deep end for the first time, someone is lifting up a rock to search for roly-polies, a tiny lil nose smelled a flower for the first time.
So What novelty is worth that sweet monotony where everything is known and loved because it is known?
Stay soft this summer.
Books I’ve loved recently
Demon Copperhead by Barbra Kingsolver (sad)
I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makki (interesting)
I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue (charming)
Grilling! Shoutout to Meredith from Wishbone Kitchen for the confidence through her Girls Who Grill Series (also this Shallot Macerated Vinaigrette from The Lost Kitchen)
