Remember When Summer Was Everything

I have reached the age to where saying summer is my favorite season is not unanimous, not even close. Man when we were kids summer was everyone's favorite. Now we are grown and I feel like I don't know anyone who still has summer #1.  "Its too hoooot", "fall is so pretty", "spring weather is great" blah blah blah. And don't get me wrong, I love all seasons so this isn't a knock to the others. Seasons are like people, we are all lovely, we all have great aspects about us, but damn, there's just something about summer that’s just… elite. The rest of yall are beautiful too, but yall just ain't got it. And yes, I see the flaws of summer. Depending on your origin and where you live, summer can be hot as fuck. I'm literally on a coffee shop patio right now, dripping sweat while typing this. But wouldn’t trade it for the world. Its so hot out here the worker came out to check on me and see if I wanted to come inside. But nahhh, non merci madame, let me sit out here in my sweat puddle while I can, before fall pulls up. But yeah, I have the same complaints as the people that hate summer. Gotta shower every time you come back inside. Always sticky. Agitated by everything just because you're so hot. Etc etc etc. I don’t burn though! S/o to my melatonin but don’t forget, we need sunscreen too yall. I might, MIGHT feel different about summer if my skin turned red and hurt to touch every time I was outside too long. Speaking of, mannnn the government owes the black community so much money. Just think about the amount of hours that were able to be put in just because the sun doesn't injure us. Well, even if it did, they still would've had my ancestors out there red and burnt anyway. STOP PLAYING AND PAY THE PEOPLE. But yeah I acknowledge the cons of summer but the pros, the PROS guys!!! I know no matter what time of day I leave the house, I'm not gonna be cold. I don't need to check the weather before I leave, I already know what it says "hot" or "hot as hell". Same fit either way, as naked as possible. Wanna hike? Yup! Camp? Yup! Hit the beach? Yup! Go on a walk? Yup! Drink rosé on the terrace? Yup! It's summertime, we outsideeeeee baybeeeeee!!!!!!!!! And outside is where I wanna be. Learning more about yourself is wonderful. When I look at my feelings about summer I realize that it's kinda my approach on life. There's certain cons I can look past if the pros are hella pro. As you can probably tell, I am not a fan of the cold, absolutely hate being cold (unless its bedtime). But snowboarding is arguably my favorite thing in this entire world. How? The pros my guy. Riding down the mountain, sliding between the trees, sitting in the snow chilling with the homies, oh yeahhh. The key is to just wear the right gear, sometimes I wear/bring too much gear with me. Heat agitation > being cold 10 times out of 10!

The other day I was listening to an album and around song 7 I reached a song that made me stop everything I was doing just to check the name of the song. No joke, one song on an album can change my feelings about the entire album. Up until that point I would say the album felt pretty mid. But I literally started the whole album over after the song was finished. I was like, nah nah nah no way he made 7 mid songs and then just tossed this masterpiece in. I must've missed something. I was cooking when the album was playing, and when its food time I'm hella focused, so I just knew there was no way noooo way in hell that this was the only fire song up to this point. I go back and listen and what do you know, I actually did miss out on some heat. But it took that one song for me to realize. That one song changed my entire feelings about the album. Nothing changed about the other songs. Same beat, same voice, same lyrics, but they just felt different now. I felt them, and not only that, they had more of a purpose to me now. I had more of a reason to try to listen and understand and feel what was happening and not just be so focused on eating (I didn't stop cooking though lol, food still comes first). It's crazy what happens when the pros of something pop out. For me, finding that thing about a situation, finding the heavy pros can change my feeling about the whole situation. This song moved me, moved me from just cooking in the kitchen, to cooking on a floating platform over the ocean. Its been over a month since I heard this song for the first time and it takes me to a different place every time but the theme is the same. Floating, smiling, vibing, thriving. The music video is kinda how the song makes me feel. In parts of the video he's driving this lil car with no doors, swanging (s/o my Texas folks here with me), no other cars around. Only difference is for me when I hear the song my car is in the sky. Other parts of the video he's in the forest, vibing, exploring, wandering. Towards the end of it he's old, in his garden with all his plants. Yeah, good vibes, amazing music video. I listened to it on my run the other day on repeat. Running in the heat, in the south of France, down the coast, mountain backdrop. (Okay, I gotta be honest it was early in the morning so the heat hadn't hit yet but it goes with the theme of this post so let me live lol). Nothing could make that moment better… except this, fucking, song. This song has a name and that name is Remember by Frank Leone. Take a listen and tell me how it makes you feel. And when you're done go ahead and check out the rest of his discography, I've been a huge fan of his music since I discovered him in 2020. Slow music, fast music, singing, rapping, lotta vocals, minimal vocals. No exaggeration, I feel like he's got at least 1 "that song" song for every person.

Summer is off to an amazing start. I'm loving it down here. The beach, the mountains, the music, the people, miraculous. Everyone just loves to be outside vibin, my type of city foreal. I just stumbled on some cheap tickets to the France v USA game tonight. 40 for 2 tickets… to the first Olympic football game for the home country, fucking wild. I love this place. One of my favorite things about France is that it is so affordable! Americans truly don’t understand how much they're getting fucked with the prices, vacation, healthcare, people not knowing how to mind their own damn business, lmao okay let me stop. I can't wait to tell you guys more about my summer/life in France but for now, that's all folks! Go outside with the homies and drip in your own sweat all day until the sun goes down. Right now the sun doesn't go down until like 9/10pm!!! What other time of year can you enjoy daylight and outside for that long, C'MON MAN SUMMER IS ELITE!!! Even if summer isn't your favorite make sure you enjoy that shit because everyday is a treasure.

Cheers

• Written by Alex @music_nomad_