Sounds of Summer

by Adam Bowling
(Cincinnati, OH United States)

There are many sounds that make me think of the summer. The first that comes to mind is the sound of a lawnmower. I know most people probably don't think about this, but as a kid during the summer, I always remember being woken up by the sound of one of my parents mowing the yard. That may be annoying to some, but I never minded it because I knew I could get up and do just about anything I wanted because I didn't have to go to school. And that brings me to other sounds, like the sound of a baseball bat hitting a baseball, the sound of my bicycle when I'd put a baseball card in the spokes, and the sound of my brothers and sister outside playing. Sure, these are sounds I could hear all year round but there's something about hearing them in the summer that makes it different. And last but not least, there's the fireworks. That always marked the halfway point of the summer and was always a good time. Anytime now that I hear fireworks, I always think back to family gatherings where we'd cap off the night with a big fireworks display. After it was over, my siblings and friends would stay outside, catching lightning bugs and listening to the crickets chirping the night away. There were some summer night where my brother and my sister would just sit outside and listen to the radio. Those are sounds I definitely miss. The worst sound of the summer is when it would come to an end and instead of being woken up by the lawnmower, it was being woken up by my mother who would tell me it was time to get up and go to school. I don't miss that sound at all.