August. Some may think of Taylor Swift’s song, others think of summer and warm weather. Looking back on the year 2021, I now think about how it brings out earth’s vibrant colors, in a way other months do not. 

This month takes me back to the feeling of soft summer grass touching my feet, the sun reflecting on my back. The sense of comfort and reassurance August gives me.  We walked up to the house, skipping, and waiting to see the birthday girl. Handing Monica her gift, she was ecstatic that she was finally turning 16. I glanced around the backyard and the plastic coconut cups caught my eye.  Pink, orange, blue, and yellow umbrella straws reaching out at the top with ice cold lemonade in them.  I whispered to Sean, “We need to take some of those home”. We both knew we weren’t leaving anytime soon.

The sun began to set as we reached the cornfield, where we hid from each other. Pairs of us together. Emma and Ernesto. Maddie and Monica. Kaleb and Parker. Gabe and I. We split up and ran our separate ways. Screaming and laughing filled both of my ear drums as we spirited so fast our legs hurt. Just trying to be the winners of the game. Finally coming together and calling quits. I sat there, laying in the dirt. Taking in these memories of all my favorite people together. The sun glaring down on us, giving Maddie and I sunburn while Emma danced around like she was performing on Main Street at Disney World. I didn’t care if my white jean shorts were discolored when I stood up. What mattered in that moment was taking pictures and laughing with my best friends. 

As we left the cornfield, it felt as if I was stepping back into reality. My hands pushed between corn stalks. Staring straight ahead, I saw Monica’s uncle changing the song, wondering what he would play next. Don’t stop Believin by Journey starts to play as my eye went busy looking at Emma. Wondering if she was hearing the same thing as me. We ran up to the porch as if it was a stage, grabbed the microphone, dancing and singing along. Time stopped at this moment. It was just her and I at that moment. Jumping up and down, hair flying everywhere, and a smile on both of our faces that stretched for miles. The song came to an end as we laughed at our horrible singing voices. 

The time on my watch could not have been right. It was 10 o’clock and we were 40 minutes away from home. We raced to the car, pulling out of the driveway so quickly, Sean did not get a chance to put in the GPS.  As we started to drive, we realized we were going to make our curfew so we stopped for Wendy’s. The drive through worker must have thought we were crazy, ordering 30 chicken nuggets, fries, and mango lemonades at 10:45 at night. He laughed at us, giving us a discount. A random act of kindness added to this perfect day. 

From now on, I will never take for granted the colors of August.