It's June and I am driving down the main stretch and it has the right balance of shade from the trees around me and the sky is very blue, my windows are down, my legs are sticking to the hot leather interior and my fingers are sticking to the hot steering wheel as well and I remember looking around knowing that this was all really beautiful. I pass the breakfast place we use to eat at and a couple of newer gas stations that weren't there before. The old hotel at the end of the road is still closed down and boarded up and marvelous.
I remember reading in the grass until the sun went down and sneaking over to the neighbors for a swim before bed. At night you couldn't really see the bottom of the pool and it made my heart race in all the best ways. I don't know if I've been happy anywhere but I know that I came pretty close. Things are different now though. What I see in the photos of my childhood doesn't quite match what is there now. Everything died when you did, even the color in our garden.
