My Forever Seventeenth Summer

Just because we are a certain age, in a certain place in time and living so far away from where we once were, our minds, our hearts and our spirits are not any different from who we were in our seventeenth year.
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Girl enjoys sun, there's a warm summer mood around she is lying on grass.
Girl enjoys sun, there's a warm summer mood around she is lying on grass.

As the snow is falling late in January, I focus my thoughts on spring. To me, spring is the perfect definition of renewal, rebirth and endless possibilities.

Throughout my years, when darkness of any kind would fall upon my life, I would go back to my past springs. For me, I always found hope in the warming of the ground and the first colors that would work their way out from the winter's earth.

When I think of love, first love, new love and even constant love, I remember spring. I can recall songs of my past, at the newness of love. It was in the spring of my fifteenth year that I was given a book called Seventeenth Summer written by Maureen Daly. This book takes us on a journey of a first love with all its innocence and beauty. Even now, in my 60th year, I still think back to memories of this read.

Just because we are a certain age, in a certain place in time and living so far away from where we once were, our minds, our hearts and our spirits are not any different from who we were in our seventeenth year.

When we experience any kind of romance for the first time, it's overwhelming, it's all consuming and it stirs up the same emotions and feelings we've experienced before. To me, this is proof that we don't really grow up when it comes to the heart. Sure, we may have more wisdom and experience but when it comes to control, we are still hopelessly helpless!

If we're lucky, we might have a little extra protection around our heart so as to not be so devastated by disappointment. We still can hurt, but we just might be able to heal a little bit quicker.

I'm a self proclaimed romantic and I'm grateful for this. I've been through two painful marriages and I'm not marred or jaded. I truly believe that we are on this earth to love and to be loved. When we see beauty or feel pain, we need to have that other person to share the good and the bad with. Its about living a fuller and richer life because we can share it with someone. These thoughts and feeling do not water down with age.

Spring is about life, and life is about quality. Everyday should be lived richly and with purpose. We need passion, we need substance and we need to allow our senses to be heightened. Our eyes must be wide open in order to absorb the beauty and color of life. We must relax our thoughts in order to hear the music of nature. Sometimes I think that out hearts should be classified as a sense. It encompasses all the others so graciously and with little effort.

As I mentally prepare for the passing of the next few cold months of winter, I allow my mind to wander to the sounds of spring in all its glory. I live in hope and with faith that come spring, I will be just where I need to be, preparing once again for my Seventeenth Summer.

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