Much like Texas, the British are renowned for saying that if you don’t like the weather, then wait five minutes. It’s oddly comforting to find such things such as that which help make the UK as much home as Texas. Of course, that also means that the very moment I slathered myself and my child up in sunblock, the clouds came out and the temperature dropped – d’oh!

I was having a random flashback to my own childhood though, which was rather pleasant in an odd way. My mother-in-law has a radio in her kitchen, and while you cannot hear it from halfway up the garden, I was momentarily transported to the years we lived in Mississippi. You could hear my mother’s radio at the swingset, and she would often jam out to whatever of her CDs took her fancy. For some reason, to this day, there is one song above all others that defines playing in summertime to me – Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young’s song Shadowland off of their 1988 release ‘American Dream’.

It’s probably the most inappropriate song that someone could associate with childhood, seeing how it’s about… oh… war, but I’ve just always really liked it. I’m sure my ex who teases me about never listening to lyrics would laugh at that; apparently, I only ever listen to the tune. But no, I clearly remember singing along (and caught myself singing what I could remember of it earlier), and even though I didn’t realize what the heck it was all about until I was much older, perhaps some of it sunk into my bones. Or perhaps I’m just contrary by nature as my mother claims, and am attracted to clever social commentary – I’m also quite fond of ‘Piggies’ by The Beatles, and once again, didn’t realize the meaning until muuuuch later in life.

I guess I wonder what songs my children will remember when they get older… I guess we’ll see. For retired DJs, we really could stand to play more music around the house! So yes, I’m definitely curious as to what you nice folks out there associate with summer and childhood – I bet it’ll be a rather random mix.

<3