A Convertible Summer

Summer of ‘67
the British had invaded
and Canada celebrated
100 years of confederation –
and Dad, at the top of his game,
came home with a brand new,
powder puff blue convertible

Eagerly, my sister and I
loaded into the back seat,
laughed at strands of our long hair
flying into open mouths, strains
of our uplifted voices competing
with the 8-track bellowing:
“Do you believe in magic?”

We were so alive then:
I, just barely nine, and my elder,
and idol, rocking sixteen –
she was hippie, go-go girl
and model all wrapped in one
and always humble, never mean.

We headed to the shoreline,
Sauble beach, where muscle cars
prowled, and tunes blared,
and all eyes lit on sister
and I wondered what the draw was,
still too naïve to understand the lure
of feminine wiles, my sandcastles real.

Barbequed steaks and mom’s
homemade apple pie, and
a trip to the ice cream store
if we were good, and Dad
shooed away the men who buzzed
about and lectured sister about “friends”.

I surfed the waves, and
avoided baby sister, her brash cries
and quick, chubby legs a distraction
for our mother, constantly in pursuit;
and observed the life, Neil Diamond
promised I was about to enter:
“Girl, you’ll be a woman soon.”

Ah to be nine, in the summertime,
when cares are few, and ideas
like popcorn, burst and pop,
filling my head with such fancy,
and then to forget it all, plunging
head first into the oncoming waves
still content to be a child.

(Thank you to Laura Bailey at All the Shoes I Wear
for the photo, song and word (summertime) that
inspired this memory.)

Published by

VJ

Permission to write, paint, and imagine are the gifts I gave myself when chronic illness hit - a fair exchange: being for doing. Relevance is an attitude. Humour essential.

21 thoughts on “A Convertible Summer”

  1. Pingback: A Convertible Summer – One Woman's Quest

  2. I agree, one of your best V.J. – love it to bits. If I could make a wish that would change the world in one way it would be that every child could experience happy childhood memories.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Wonderfully written, V.J. Love how you wove in songs of the day to capture the memories of the reader. It definitely made me drift into a different place and time. ❤

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Such a wonderfully evocative short story/poem! Well done; you should enter it somewhere- find a competition- or send it in to Discover- I think it’s one of your best so far this year 😊

    Liked by 1 person

  6. We had adult friends who had a pale yellow convertible. I remember the thrill of having a ride in it. I also was nine…going on ten…in the summer of 67.

    Liked by 2 people

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