July 21, 2025 ~ Monday (another hot one … in a string of too many hot ones … and so on)
Inevitability … the quality of being unavoidable, a sure thing, imminent, impending, inescapable.
Let’s just put it out there … July is not my month. I don’t remember July as a kid – except it was hot. As in HOT! Think 90 degrees in Chicago, high humidity, no a/c, and usually a dog in bed with me at night. I equate July days as ones at the prairie catching crayfish and butterflies and nights of stickiness and clammy sheets. Why don’t I remember fireflies and cricket song instead?
I do remember “dodging” the duds from the firework display, which was blown off a block from our home. We’d roll around and play “war” and when the duds happened (and there were a lot), we’d writhe on the grass and play dead. And then get up and run around like crazed escapees from some movie psych ward and do it all over again a minute later or whenever the next dud happened. Great fun, though I’m pretty sure we drove the old aunts and uncles crazy!
Our neighbor was a creative – and without kids of his own; he gave us a lot of attention. Nice man/long gone. He helped us build “floats” for our neighborhood’s street parade on the 4th – and they were always something … as in something special and involved and nothing we could do by ourselves! Such patience for the next door kids who were noisy and always outside with turtles and dogs and roller skating at all hours of the day. I think one year (no help from the neighbor), I dressed up my dachshund, Marvin, in baby clothes and pushed her in a doll buggy. Some float! I think it was shortly thereafter that the bottom of said doll buggy ripped apart. She was a chunky dog – more of a bratwurst than a weiner!
Sometime in my early teens – when I was too old for “kid stuff” but not yet able to drive, and I was too cool to wear shorts on a hot summer day and surely too cool for comfort – I saved money to buy Coca-Cola (logo) hip-hugger bell-bottoms. OMG – I was the epitome of coolness! But actually, “cool” they were not. I wore them on that 4th of July and just remember being SO uncomfortable! I was hot, I was sticky, the pants were too tight … I should have had on shorts! Rationality is not given to teenagers – hindsight shows us that.
Fast forward a lifetime ahead, when the kids were little and we decorated their bikes for our neighborhood parade. It seemed like we always had bbqs – complete with magic shows, sparklers, and sulfur “snakes” at our house. My folks came in from Chicago. It was fun. I think back, and we had mild fireworks but were still probably lucky no one blew off a finger or set their hair on fire.
And fast forward another lifetime, and Tim was gone … in the blink of an eye, on one very hot July day. And so many good friends and family have gone after him in this month. And because of that, I no longer associate fireworks and hot dogs on the grill with July but instead … loss. And, I think my dog will be the next one to go forward in this month … I don’t think he’ll make it much longer. Sigh. There are too many “anniversaries” this month, and I find that too sad to think about with so much else that could be good about July … but that is what I think of for 31 days in the middle of the summer.
And never has there been a year where we’ve skipped July – though, believe me, for the last nearly 20 years – I’d have loved to! July brings with it those constants … that certainty and inevitability … heartache along with heat, dryness and searing/soul-sucking sunshine. It is usually TOO HOT and my brain is fried, along with my patience and, more than likely, my flowers … and I am at the end of my “yay-it’s summer” mindset and find myself longing for October. Or at least August.
And yet, I know in 10 days this month will be one for the books … and I can put this month (once again) behind me. And though we don’t have fireflies here … maybe I can welcome in the next month on a happier note, and maybe there will be some cricket song.