Finding My Oasis.

“Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair...” ― Susan Polis Schutz

I love this photo, as it reminds me of days long past... racing out in the hot sun for hours on end...the smell of dust and dirt ground deep into my pores... and that sound my Keds made sticking against the slightly melted asphalt... 'shtook shtook shtook'. 

There was always a soda machine somewhere nearby. Ours was located in the hall above the local Firestation...and for a dime, you had your pick from any number of a variety of ice cold 'oases'

My favorite was always the orange soda, second down from the top...and in that slot requiring just a little extra tug and jiggle to get it free. I had convinced myself that this little extra work made the soda taste all that much better.

And that moment just right before you finally popped the top, that anticipation...oh, I could almost taste that orange already in my mouth.

As I leaned in for that very first sip, the bubbles would reach up and tickle my nose.

I had a blind friend growing up as kid...he once asked me "What does orange look like?"

I gave him a sip of my ice cold Crush, and just like that...he understood.

Context, is everything.

“After all, we were young. We were fourteen and fifteen, scornful of childhood, remote from the world of stern and ludicrous adults. We were bored, we were restless, we longed to be seized by any whim or passion and follow it to the farthest reaches of our natures. We wanted to live – to die – to burst into flame – to be transformed into angels or explosions. Only the mundane offended us, as if we secretly feared it was our destiny . By late afternoon our muscles ached, our eyelids grew heavy with obscure desires. And so we dreamed and did nothing, for what was there to do, played ping-pong and went to the beach, loafed in backyards, slept late into the morning – and always we craved adventures so extreme we could never imagine them. In the long dusks of summer we walked the suburban streets through scents of maple and cut grass, waiting for something to happen.” ― Steven Millhauser, Dangerous Laughter 

namaste my most beautiful friends...may life's blessings always 'tickle' your nose with their sweetness on a hot summer's day.