Midsummer Nights of Dreams

As the scorching, suffocating heat engulfs the island, a beautiful bevy of nostalgia sets in to remind us of those childhood joys of summer. The heightened anticipation of the end of the school year combines with the high anxiety of finals week to form a strange coalescence of jittery excitement and impending doom. The smell of fresh cut grass, the ring-ring sound of the ice cream man ripping through the hot summer night bring back that old feeling of unbridled hope, the keystone of the season. As those innocent summer nights mature into the long, never-ending, blackened days of the adult life, we cannot help, in spite of our jaded lives, but feel a childlike sense of euphoria at the juxtaposition of adult responsibilities and puerile, blissful sublimity and ignorance. As the days grow hotter, we become transfixed, obsessed, driven by the cavalcade of hope that summer brings, the events, the moments, the ability to get lost in the land of dizzying nirvana. The dog days of summer make for no more an exciting time for baseball as the players gear up for the home stretch, the hot, sweaty nights that separate the men from the boys. Blockbuster movies lure us into their illusory worlds of entrancement and enchantment, the buttery smell of popcorn wafting in the darkness. The cornucopia of questions and debates precipitate the start of the NFL training camp, as the modern-day gladiators ready to battle for eternal glory; the coaches downing cups of coffee to stay awake as they break apart the game films, frame by frame, the players studying their playbooks, and the fans arguing about what the season will bring. Even the world of professional wrestling begins to peak, building its storylines and matches for the annual August pay-per-view known as SummerSlam, where pageantry and theater mix with showmanship, athleticism, and art to create world-class entertainment. Whatever your poison, the summer has it. And over the course of those short (or eternal, if you're a kid) two months, the imposition of the school year in September quietly lurks as the distinctive smell of the rusty leaves and the crisp, cooling air signals the changing of the seasons, the start of autumn, and the start of a new and exciting journey. Yet, the running thread, no matter your poison, is the bountiful joy these escapes bring with it, a taste of what once was our entire outlook on life, as we once saw the world through lenses of innocence and slept care-free under the blankets of hope, asleep and dreaming those midsummer night dreams.