The Boys of Summer

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I was taking the dogs for their Sunday morning ride around the block (we saw two squirrels and a dog) when Don Henley's The Boys of Summer came on the radio.

It's a good song from a good record and my brain played that quick trick on me by taking me straight back in time to when the song was at it's height.

I was living in Baltimore for the summer of '91. I was hanging out with my college roommate, we were playing tennis, rooting for the last-place Orioles, and drinking a lot of beer.

(I don't do any of those things anymore).

(I don't wanna' hear about the freaking O's!)

Anyway, the girl who was the lifeguard at the pool was a true beauty and we were all great friends.

When Don Henley sings the line:

Your brown skin shattered in the sun.

I'm instantly back at that place and time.

And of course, it works with about a thousand other songs.

There are songs that take you back to high school and perhaps running out onto the basketball court to start the season. There are songs that remind you of your Dad, or Mom, or second cousin on your mother's side, or whatever!

The first notes of the song just trigger that memory and bring it all crashing down on your head again.

And of course, if you live long enough there are songs that you can't even listen to anymore because of the pain that they bring.

I have quite a few of those...and I just have to flip the station, but The Boys of Summer isn't one of those songs.

It transports me back.

We'd play epic tennis matches in the blistering sun...Baltimore summers aren't for the weak...and then we'd jump in the big pool, have about 11 beers and think about going to the game.

It was a time in my life when I was still trying to figure out what the hell I wanted to do, but I had a real job.

I was dreaming big things.

Writing a little.

As the song played out and I sang along (the dogs were a little annoyed as they felt I was skirting my 'find animals around the neighborhood' responsibilities) I wondered about how everyone who shared that summer with me was making out in life.

But I pushed the thought away.

They were young right there in my mind.

With brown skin from a relentless sun.

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