10 Days of Heat: Best summer memory (Day 9)

This one is tough.

My summers have been different as I’ve aged. As a kid, I remember going on small family trips, especially a beach in Maryland. At least one of those trips included a first crush.

As I got older, things changed. It wasn’t always an easy thing because everybody seemed to go in different directions. There was baseball, of course. Then when I got too old for that, it was softball.

Softball has been a staple in my summers for many years. For more than 25 years, I’ve run a team. We’ve had good and bad, but over the past decade we’ve been a solid team in any league in which we played.

Still, I won’t play forever. In the past several years I’ve gotten more into going to baseball games. I’ve planned trips and have seen many different stadiums.

I’ve been to a lot of great weddings and taken trips (Ireland probably tops that list). I’ve seen a lot and always enjoy being in the position to see new things.

The funny part, though, nothing really stands out as that “one memory.”

I have talked to so many people who can pinpoint something special – ranging from one as a kid to something as an adult. It could be a camp, or a trip, or meeting the person of their dreams. But something stands out.

For me, I have a hard time with it.

I know there is a lot of good memories out there. They seem to mesh together, however. I can smile thinking back to times in the past, but there’s just not the one that jumps out.

Maybe there is and I am just not letting it come to the front of my mind.

I do cherish certain things, though. I remember the times of playing in the local county golf tournament, including one year where I played with my father and one of my brothers in the opening round. I remember the first time one of my softball teams won a championship and being able to celebrate it with one of my brothers. I spent many days watching my niece play travel soccer. I played baseball as a kid, be it a “pickup game” or on the local legion team. There were trips to Philly to visit relatives and having a true Italian “lunch” at a neighbor’s house. I was friends with two of the kids in the family and it was wild to be part of that day.

I remember stick ball or walking to the small “convenience” store in Philly, grabbing those fake candy smokes. Or buying pretzels on the corner. Goodness, Philly pretzels rule.

Trips to Montreal.

My lord do I remember those.

So many friends joined me in my obsessive trips to that amazing city. I would still move there tomorrow if I could get a job that paid well and afford me the ability to live there. I have loved the city since the first time I visited it and have been there a dozen or so times. It’s been too long though, and I need to get there and visit soon.

Maybe my best summer memory is a potpourri of memories into one. And though I can’t pinpoint just one that really stands out as “the one,” I feel I’ve had a lot of great memories about summers gone by, and I can hope they continue in summers of the future.

How about all of you? What is your best summer memory?

This is part of the 10 Days of Heat writing challenge! There’s still time to join up with us. Do as many themes as you want! The challenge runs every Tuesday and Thursday through the month of August 2017. For a list of themes, check out the announcement post and join us!

Side note: I have not been around seeing all the blog posts of others in this challenge. It ends this week and I am hoping some things slow down for me. I promise I will be visiting/reading/commenting on every single post from this challenge!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!