seasons in the sun

i remember it like it happened an hour ago.

it happened while i was standing in my best friend's backyard in the 70's.

her name was kim and she had an older brother who lived in the basement. he would put his transistor radio on the steps, and she and i would dance around in that carefree way that only nine year old girls can.

it was summer and it was cloudy. kim got distracted by something in the back of the yard. i was standing in the center, between her and her brother who was sitting on the steps watching us.

this song came on the radio. i can hear it crackling through static and smell heavy summer air of st. louis with slight remnants of cut grass.

i don't know why... i stood starring out at nothing... across the row of city yards. i felt every word of that song etch itself into my memory while i twirled a clover chain with my fingers.

i heard something in that moment that i didn't fully understand. i suppose it was the moment i discovered melancholy--the bittersweet of life.

but like all things, it passed. i looked back at her brother who was getting up to go inside. i turned and ran to the back of the yard to play in the mud.

funny, the things we remember.