I think June is my favorite month. I love mornings in June. Birds are singing earlier and earlier, and the breeze is cool and brings with it the scents of grass, dirt and flowers. In the evenings, one can drive with the windows down and take in the perfume of honeysuckle growing alongside the road. The hot afternoons remind me of days at the pool, and I can almost smell the sunscreen that Mom slathered all over us.
June is also the month in which came the last day of school. Until I was in the sixth grade, every year the last day of school was June 8. My friends and I would chant all year long, “I can’t wait until June the 8th!” LOL
June is also the month when we would go to church camp. The one I attended is in Clendenin, WV. For several years I was a faithful camper at Camp Whitney. I can’t remember if I went for 6 summers or 7, but the time I spent there had such an impact on my Christian life, it seems as if those numbers fall short. After all, Camp Whitney was where I gave my heart to Jesus. It’s the only place where I cried openly. It’s one of the very few places where I felt accepted for who I was, and that meant a lot to my teenage heart.
So many summer memories are popping up in my thoughts. Jelly shoes; teeter-totters, Merry-go-rounds, and swings; burgers on the grill; fireworks; (Shannon, did you see that one?) sunburns; lightning bugs in Mamaw’s yard; playing Andy over in Mamaw’s yard; fresh cucumbers from her garden; snapping green beans; bee stings; and riding down the road in the bed of a pick-up truck.
At the end of summer, there was the Charleston Stern Wheel Regatta. As a kid, I only attended the concerts and the fireworks show, but wow, what a show it was. If you missed the fireworks on July 4, then you might be excused, but there was no excuse for missing the fireworks at the end of the Regatta. Their’s was the best!
I guess I got ahead of myself here, because I only intended on writing about June. But, none of that summer fun would have happened without it. The anticipation that came on June 1 made the summer as great as it was. Even as an adult, I still get excited when June rolls around, just thinking of the possibilities ahead.
Shannon Wells 