Epic Summer

My son was texting me a little while ago letting me know that he was going to be a few minutes after curfew. Not a big deal - I appreciate the heads up... but as per the rules, he loses an hour tomorrow. It's the first hour he's lost since summer began and I know it was just an oversight that made him a little late tonight but the rules are the rules. Still I took a minute to thank the Lord that I've got a good kid who... almost always makes it home on time. I started seeing him in my head, walking down the boulevard with his friends, hanging out up at the park, riding the light rail and, yes, at his girlfriend's house (*cringe*) and I realized it was the first time I had ever stopped to think about his experiences outside of our house. He's not the kind of kid that makes you worry about what he might be doing when he's not home. I go to work during the week, come home and he's not here but he's usually only about an hour gone, according to my daughter, and a few hours later, again, he's home right on time. But when I saw him in my head this evening, it hit me; epic summer.

Epic summer is the summer of epiphany. The summer when most adolescents have a series of experiences that quietly shape the way they will view love, friendship and identity going forward. It's the summer when teenagers are challenged to take those first steps toward who they will eventually become... decide where they stand... and when to run hard and fast in the other direction. It's a summer they see things they shouldn't, do things they never have before and learn things you wish they never had to. Its as pain-staking as it is awesome and you never, ever forget it. Although the timing of epic summer might vary from person to person, for most it seems to occur the summer going into 11th or 12th grade. For me it was the summer of '91 - the summer before my junior year.

I learned so much that summer I couldn't run it all down to you if I tried. What I remember most is a sleepover on Warwick, late nights at Bev's and having my heart broken for the very first time. I went through the ringer but that summer put me at what I'd view to be my perfect self. After the wounds healed, what I was left with was the lessons and I... was... everything. In truth, I'd give most anything to be that person again, but eventually some experience is going to find that one part of you that you never knew existed. Some experience will hit you in that place and rock you so far off your square that try as you may, you won't ever find your way back. You'll feel yourself close at times.... maybe at the corner.... or across the street.... but you'll never be quite THERE again. It's bittersweet, really. Maybe you cant go back but you've LIVED. Grown. Embraced. Accepted. Survived. I saw something the other day that said something like, "Don't be ashamed of the scars; they serve to show that you were stronger than whatever tried to destroy you." There should be no regret in that.

I don't know if my son is having his epic summer or not, but I know my mother had no clue I was having mine. She was checked out and even if she wasn't, I'm not sure she had the luxury of having her own to recognize it if she saw it. If my son is having his right now, I just hope he's paying attention.