Ah vanity, my unfair and familiar friend/fiend. Your work has made a mucky mess of my perceived reception in the world yet you keep me coming back for more. Here we travel back in time, to a summer spent lounging by the pool, striking all-too-serious poses or simply squinting from the sun. Life is too often a happy accident or unintended joke, and the best way to traverse its tricky path is to laugh it off whenever possible – and there is always the possibility for a laugh. It’s taken a few years, and some arduous work within, but I’m easily able to laugh at myself now – and there is much to find funny.
Included in the items I now find humorous are pictures like this, in which I did my Zoolander best to find the perfect scowl that looked both effortless and meaningful, and somehow ended up merely appearing utterly ridiculous. Turns out that’s a good look for practically anybody – we are, after all, just a pile of neurotic habits – and everyone feels better when we feel less alone.
As for these pics, along with the chuckles that Speedo-preening produces, I’m remembering certain summer days when all there was to do was sit beside the pool and read and watch the sun languidly move across the sky. Back then we would bask in the heat and light, commune with the bees and butterflies, sip iced tea and lemonade, slip into the cool water, and repeat. It feels so far away, and still so familiar – the way summer usually works. I remind myself to simply give in to it, to let it splash all over and not worry about any mess. We’re all a little messy, and that’s ok – especially in the summer.
