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Outside Showers and Summer Feet
Memories of youth at the Jersey Shore
“Sweet days of summer, the jasmine’s in bloom.” I can hear Seals and Crofts sing their song “Summer Breeze” in the deep recessed echoes of my 1970’s summers in Cape May Point. “Summer breeze, makes me feel fine. Blowin’ through the jasmine in my mind.” The chorus lingers like the strong scent of that luscious summer jasmine and all the other life that existed on those summer shores so many years ago. Feet don’t get smelly in summer if you never wear shoes and are constantly walking in sand or dipping your toes in the ocean constantly. Well, of course, the shore etiquette of always rinsing off with the hose or outside showers before coming in. Oh, glorious outside showers of summer. You spent a day in the heat and the sun slowly baked your skin and upon returning, you wait for the hot water in the pipes to rush out and await the cool water stored further below and you step under the shower while the sun still shines and that chill of coolness takes the heat of the day away. Cape May Point water had a particular fresh smell about it and you could stand there forever, smelling that freshness as the steady light stream of the cold water cooled your whole body down. Oh, not to have experienced that sensation would have been a life not lived and now, remembering it, to not experience it at least one more time would seem like an offense to the beauty and…
