I remember that summer. The summer we drove around and listened to Don Henley’s The Boys of Summer. It was blazing hot, and we had an infant. We also lived in a house with really bad air conditioning, so driving around was our way of getting cool. Neither of us made much money, and the house we lived in had cracks in the wall where you could see daylight through the walls. It was an old house. It’s been torn down since then, because it was situated in a bowl-like area off of Culberhouse and the yard flooded anytime it rained.

The song always reminds me of that summer, my son in the carseat behind us, cruising around in my Cavalier. I always say that into anyone’s life must come a Cavalier. I really think that. People who have always had things handed to them or those who have never had to work but are capable of doing so have no idea how it feels to have an infant in a carseat driving around because it’s the only way you can get cooled down.

Now, after more than 20 years, I drive around not because I need to get cool but because I’m going somewhere – work, school, the store, the movies. Gas is higher – nearly $4 a gallon. That’s not surprising because it goes up every summer for some inexplicable reason.

Tonight we have our final trials in our law skills class. I look back at how far I’ve come since those days of driving around listening to Don Henley. And, now on my iPod is a band I never saw but wanted to – Duran Duran. Oh, the lead singer was so cute, and I loved their music in the 80s. This morning, I made a step closer to that dream – I bought tickets for their tour when they come to Memphis in August.

20 years ago in August, I was driving around in a hot Cavalier, air conditioner making the car go slower and using fuel to keep cool on a hot summer day. This August, I’ll be in Florida for a week and then to see that band I’ve always wanted to see, with my Sweetie. AH…life is good.