I step outside on a mildly hot summer morning. The slight breeze moves my hair over my face, and the sun beats down on me, instantly making me warm. I see the bright colors of the flowers and grass, and people working outside in their yards. I inhale deeply and smell the odd but calming scent of fresh cut grass. This is a smell that brings back many memories from my childhood summers; playing outside all day long, and only going inside to get an ice cold glass of water. It reminds me of the cool summer nights, laying outside and gazing at the stars. It felt like I was in an entire different world, as if nothing could ever go wrong.
I miss those childhood summers; when all I had to worry about was if my mom was going to let me eat ice cream after lunch or if my friends would be allowed to come over and play. I never slept much when I was younger, so I would wake up sometimes as early as 8:00 am. Every morning I would wake up and walk downstairs and out the front door to see what the weather was like for that day. Then I would watch cartoons while I eat my cereal; which was usually something like fruit loops or lucky charms. I would then call my best friend/neighbor, Rachel (who is still one of my best friends today), to come down so we could play outside. She always rode her bike down to my house, and everyday we would spend hours of our time riding our mountain bikes down the back roads behind my house. We would have my mom make us sandwiches for lunch, and sometimes afterwards we would ride our bikes to the ice cream shop down the road from our houses. We spent our afternoons swimming in my pool, playing soccer, and just running around my yard for what seemed like ever. It was always a sad, sad moment when Rachel’s mom would call and tell her it was time to go home.
My summer nights were spent sitting on my porch with my parents and siblings, listening to the crickets chirp and the flow of the water from the creek behind my house. My sisters, brother, and I would often run round our yard catching fireflies; putting them in jars that we had put small holes on the tops. The fireflies, along with the moonlight, would help guide us through our yard, which for a child seemed miles long. When it was time for bed, I was sad to know that the day had come to an end, but excited for what adventures the next day would bring me.
All of these memories that are instilled in my head are just from that one smell of fresh cut grass. It’s so hard to explain what it actually smells like. It’s the same type of freshness that I smell on a cold winter morning. The grass smells kind of dull and dry, yet its scent is so exhilarating to me. It turns out that the smell of the grass is actually from the chlorophyll, and is basically the scent of the grass’s blood. This was a fact very interesting to me, because I had no clue that that is where that smell came from.
Every time I smell the fresh cut grass, I think of all the memories I have made throughout all the summers I have lived through. It makes e feel young and free again, like I could run through a field with my arms waving in the air. No matter how old in age that I get, I will always feel young at heart, especially when I smell the aroma of the fresh cut grass. I will always be taken back to those long summer days, when I didn’t have a single care in the world.
