LONG GONE DAYS OF SUMMER
Summertime usually dredges up old memories, good and bad, but occasionally it is the opposite; something else brings back long gone days of summer.
I sprinted home from school in the one hundred plus degree weather the last day of school in 1977. I was a skinny fourteen-year old that just squeaked past my freshman year. My brother was waiting for me at home, my parent’s house. Home for him was a 22′ travel trailer he pulled behind his new Ford F-150 four wheel drive pick-up.
My brother and two other guys lived in the travel trailer on job sites up and down the west coast interstates. They built truck stops. As small as that trailer was, a fourth person in it made it feel a little like the inside of a sardine can.
Everybody can point to a specific time in their life when they grew up. I don’t mean mature and wise, some of us are still working on that, but the time we finally measured up. For males, it’s considered the time, “A boy becomes a man”.
It didn’t matter that I was smaller and weaker. When you’re on a job and getting paid, even if it was against the law due to age, you gotta pull your weight. Especially when an older brother that gets you the job expects more out of you than the average punk kid.
Mishaps happen with youngsters… especially on job sites. I got caught between the handles of a wheel barrel full of wet concrete tipping over more than once. It’s like getting body slammed by Hulk Hogan. I hit one of the guys in the head with a pick on a full back swing, but only once. That dull “Thud” still echoes in my ears.
I shoveled so much concrete off the back of a 2×4 screed board I dreamed about it. And somehow, no matter how hard I tried to prevent it, I always ended up with concrete inside my concrete boots.
But those memories didn’t come back to me this summer that dumped me back in ’77 until I heard a song.
We worked like desperate people because we were, but we still took Sunday’s off.
Roger had a canary yellow Chevy Monza with a v-8, along with a stereo that was a teenager’s idea of heaven.
It didn’t take long to memorize every word to Bob Seger’s Night Moves album. But it was the song by
Boston I heard the other night that shot me back to the summer I became a man.“We were just another band out of Boston, on the road tryin’ to make ends meet”. That band used the memories of difficult times to motivate themselves. I didn’t know it at the time, but that’s what I’d be doing most of the days of my life to come.
Difficult times and struggles are gifts. Not all bad things are bad. They can be as powerful as jet fuel. Perseverance doesn’t come from being comfortable. And, “There is no increase in strength without resistance”. It’s God’s design.
He can use anything in creation to remind us of that fact… even a Boston song and the long gone days of summer.
Hilary Goldwater Sosey 🌻
Sunday, September 3, 2017 @ 9:34 am
You do have a gift of words , Floyd… I love reading your “heart thoughts” đź’“
Lynn D. Morrissey
Sunday, September 3, 2017 @ 5:23 pm
I always love your nostalgic looks back, Floyd, and how you learn and grow from them, and this time, all thanks to remembering a song. it’s amazing how both songs and scents can bring back fond or devastating memories. I’m glad that many of yours seem to be mostly good, even if sometimes difficult–because, after all (and you say it yourself), that’s how we grow.
Blessings to you and happy end of summer.
Lynn
Pam
Sunday, September 3, 2017 @ 5:25 pm
Songs can take me back to a time and place with just a few bars of music. Thanks for sharing yours, Floyd!
Martha Orlando
Monday, September 4, 2017 @ 4:36 am
Yes, indeed, Floyd, God can (and will) use everything and anything to propel us in the direction He has planned for us. Thank you for sharing your memories here. Of course, since I graduated from college in 1977, this did leave me feeling rather “old.” 🙂
Blessings!
Bill (cycleguy)
Monday, September 4, 2017 @ 5:19 am
I don’t know Floyd. this gives me “more than a feeling.” It sure brings back memories of days gone by. And I know I’m much older than you. Boston didn’t hit it “big” until I was in a church preaching in the mid to late 70s and I was in my mid 20s. You young whippersnapper. But I do agree. There are certain songs, smells, sights which take me back to my younger days and to summer days gone by. “Crystal Blue Persuasion” does that as does “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.”
Cheryl
Monday, September 4, 2017 @ 11:25 am
Wow, those Boston songs take me back, too…and Bob Seger, too, and so many others. It is funny how we don’t think of those days gone by, and then, out of nowhere, a song can just propel us back to where we can literally feel like we did then. Music has such a power to do that. It evokes memories like nothing else I can think of. I am so sorry you got hurt so bad on that job…my, that sounds just awful. Those kinds of memories sure stick with a person forever. I love reading your stories, brother…it is always such a blessing to see your posts in our inbox. God bless you for all you do.
Hazel Moon
Monday, September 4, 2017 @ 11:40 am
It was summer time, school was out and you had an opportunity to “work” for pay with big brother. Of course you must do that even if you were only 14 years old. Sorry I had to laugh at you being caught with the wheel barrel and cement, I can just see it now. Music does have a way to remind us of days gone by. Thanks for another awesome story Floyd.
Betty Draper
Tuesday, September 5, 2017 @ 5:26 pm
I love “Night Moves” by Seger with his raspy voice, great memories of driving down the highway singing it at the top of our lungs and a few memories I won’t mention here.
“There is no increase in strength without resistance”. It’s God’s design. That says it all for me especially since I am doing water exercise because of the resistance water can give. I pray it will strengthen me physcially and build a better resilience to clog arteries. I think I will ask our couch to play “Night Moves” as we exercise…the girls I do it with would love it. Thanks brother for another good post, full of truth and some fun stuff too, concrete in your boots…and hitting someone with a pick makes me glad we never had to work together…just kidding…great post.
Dolly
Wednesday, September 6, 2017 @ 11:33 am
Floyd,
Thanks for the peek back. I’m going to look up that song. And yes, James 1:2-4 would agree with you about hard times. God is faithful to keep His promise to grow us up bit by bit. Blessings to you 🙂