Not many of you know this, but Suzie and I were once apparently part of some synchronized swimming extravaganza in Amsterdam, NY. [See featured photograph.] Actually, I think this was taken during our Olympic trials for monkey-in-the-middle (I was the monkey at this particular moment). I can’t for the life of me recall whether we medaled or not. I’m guessing no since I can’t find the thing anywhere.
Summer was always bookended by our birthdays: Suzie opened the season on June 9 and I brought up the rear on August 24. When I was younger, and the days seemed to last so much longer than they do now, I always considered my birthday to fall smack dab in the middle of the summer. (With a great deal of relief too, as I couldn’t imagine having to deal with all the attention that bringing cupcakes to school would entail, and with that came the benefit of not wasting a minute of a birthday stuck in school.) As I grew older, my birthday seemed to creep closer and closer to fall and the end of summer. By the time I hit college, and the first day of school moved up into the end of August, my birthday was very much the final sigh of summer. To that end, it was the anticlimactic finale to every summer season, tinged with melancholy as the sun always slanted a little differently in the sky then, and a coolness had already seeped into the nights and early mornings. More birthday ruminations later on today.
For now, check out this other vintage photograph of when Suzie and I were competing for badminton glory. Based on her poor form and wardrobe (she refused to don the regulation track suit) we lost this game, and any chance at making badminton history slipped through our fingers. Summer has its disappointments too.
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