Summer Evenings
Summer evenings are beautiful.
If days were cakes then summer evenings would be a soft and light sponge, perhaps even strawberry shortcake.
If there are any evenings when I want to be at home, it is in summer. The street below has movement. Traffic flows through like a garden hose turned on to medium. It is busy but not so busy and bustling that it stresses one out.
There are people walking about, glad to finally be out. The day long torture from the heat followed by the beginning of cooldown, brings about a certain gait in people - the gait of a summer evening stroll. Every movement feels leisurely. Walking back home from work, an evening stroll, a grocery run - all these things happen in the winter too. But in summer it isn’t a chore, it is a fun activity. Watching other people be out and about doing their daily chores feels like watching the opening scene of a movie. Everything is perfect so far and I am being introduced to a world with no problems - yet. That’s the beauty of summer evenings, no matter what happens during the day, the scene resets every evening. Every evening, you get to put on rose colored glasses and start watching a movie.
It is not just that it feels better, but everything looks better too. Maybe because the sky is indeed more beautiful. As the sun sets later and later, there is a lingering brightness near the horizon, adding a golden glow to the landscape. The sky feels open, like a sunset blue meadow. As dusk sets in, darkness starts to creep in from the top fading out the bright yellow band on the horizon until it is a sliver of yellow. In the city, the lights turn on. People have come home, people have friends over, people lounge in their summer shirts. Clusters of yellow lights flicker in the city’s dark silhouette against a vanishing yellow horizon.
The air gets cooler and as the evening progresses into the night. The sky gets darker. The moon get brighter and the stars flicker but there are no clouds.
Summer nights are the nights I lay on the rooftop, making up constellations. I no longer hold the question “Should I bring a jacket” in my back pocket. I go out in just a t-shirt and it lays on my skin just right. A gentle breeze flows, causing tiny ripples in the curtains. Add a watermelon (or some ice-cream) to the evening and I couldn’t ask for more. When I finally lay in bed, the sheets are cool. The pillow is cold. A light breeze brushes against my face as I drift into sleep. This is what a perfect evening feels like.