Those summer days.
End of the spring and here she comes back
Hi, hi, hi, hi there. Them summer days
Those summer days
Some songs bring me back to a time and place in my life. Sly and the Family Stone’s Hot Fun in the Summertime is one of those, and the time was the late evening of August 22, 1969. The first few notes always transport me to our home’s front steps on that humid and record hot 36 degree summer night, straining to see what the neighbours were up to across the street at the post wedding reception party. The impossibly handsome Brian Kelly had swept away the equally impossibly beautiful Sandra Wiens, on whom I’d had a childhood crush for years; she being my favourite of several neighborhood babysitters.
Some 60 family members and neighbours filled their home to overflowing, from the basement bar to the garage. Everyone that I could see had a drink in their hand, and it was loud. Very loud.
Despite the happy lyrics of the song, it has come to be a signpost of my life; signifying the sad but inevitable march into puberty. I would be over her in a week, focusing my puppy love on another, then another…
Earlier that evening our family had attended the reception in the basement of the Dakota Hotel. Dressed in my Sunday best, I wandered aimlessly among the guests, looking for anyone my age to talk to. No luck. It was, I believe, the first wedding reception I’d ever attended. It was loud, and full of friendly hand-shaking, back slapping and banter. The neighbours were all there, though it was strange to see them all dressed up, with drinks in hand (alcohol!), laughing and smiling and… lining up?
I had no idea what was going on, but I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I tucked into the line and glanced ahead. Food maybe? Drinks? I would duck out if that were the case. At 9 years old definitely too young for that, and being Mennonite, well, that was strictly verboten. Turned out it was actually a receiving line. I moved through the elder family members, was enthusiastically greeted by Mr. Wiens, and then I found myself face-to-face with Leona, Maid of Honour and sister of the bride, who did not hesitate to plant a kiss on my cheek. I was stunned. I don’t think I’d ever been kissed before. I was speechless, and with the sudden influx of blood to my cheeks, perhaps a little bit dizzy. It was all happening so fast…
Sandra, certainly the most beautiful bride I’d ever seen, was next. She took her cue from Leona and planted a kiss on me. Could have been on my cheek, maybe my lips, I nearly blacked out so I can’t remember. Then I shook Brian’s hand, nodded at his familial entourage, and found my way to a chair. What had just happened? Why was my heart racing? What did I think of all this? If I remember one thing clearly from that evening more than 50 years later, is that I recovered, rejoined the line, and got 2 more kisses. And more than one confused look…
The party across the street would stretch well into the night, and as my parents were there, the five of us kids went unsupervised. With the living room stereo playing the hits of the summer of 1969, I sat on the steps and imagined the fun the adults must be having at the send-off party for Sandra and Brian.
But mostly I reflected on the kisses.
That’s when I had most of my fun, back
Hi, hi, hi, hi there. Them summer days
Those summer days…
