Living a Bit Nowhere
Showing Gratitude for the Never Ending Summer
It’s about time something changes. It’s a feeling I manifest yearly at about this time at what I like to call Second Summer. The back to back days of endless sun and warmth on your skin all string together their single images to be played in a fluid, sequential motion. Yeah! Like a movie you’re so right!
I’ve sat on warm wooden decks and grazed my fingers through short, fragrant grass. Sweat’s beaded down my forehead and back and seeped through my shirt to the seat. I’ve rolled in the dirt, eaten 10,000 hot dogs, and played like a child under the California sun for one full summer.
This constant, extrovertive season could be the reason that I favor the shortened days and shadows of fall. The air feels clear and clean and my face is kissed by tingling nips of expressive coldness. It’s about now when my body and mind unite for the prayers to send the sun south in hopes that it allows for the recharge they both so sincerely need. You can read all about the burns last summer left me below that I’m still accepting.
Second Second Summer
You’ve caught word that I’m catching up after being behind. This time, similar to others, is a doozy. I have watched yet another month propel itself away from me. It’s like my hands are stretching out like tree branches being blown by planned and unplanned gusts of wind. My current realization is you need to stop and take note of the passing season so y…
There is something different about this summer. Although I’ve felt all the pangs of its pure heart, I don’t feel especially burdened by this year. I have pride in all that I’ve done and the tiredness doesn’t feel personal like past seasons. Now is where I must insert my gratitude.
It came to me last night while I was sleeping in a tent at D.L. Bliss campground in Lake Tahoe. The entrance to the park displayed a sign totaling the bear encounters for the week: 23 sightings, 4 opened containers, 2 citations.
It wasn’t a huge shock to hear the sounds of people screaming late in the night as their camp was greeted by a hungry and curious black bear. However, even though I was a fair distance from the racous encounter, a small pin of anxiety lept through my spine at the sounds of the screams. Eventually I’d roll over and question my own recollection of locking our food safely away in the provided bear lock containers. My mind would wander further again to the more frightening reasons I’d hear a group of people scream from a distance. It was in this moment that my gratitude was felt as I lay safely in my tent in a 15 degree sleeping bag. My complaints about having too long of a summer instantly reversed into letters of graciousness as I marveled in the Sierra moonlight.
Thanks as always for reading and listening. Here’s a demo from an unreleased song (about going so many places in summer that you are basically living everywhere and nowhere at the same time) that you can chew on while I prepare for the next musical season featuring the talents of my fantastic new drummer and amazing band. More on that new soon!
“living a bit nowhere”- DI LEO band demo 7.20.26