Summer Revery

The beginning of this essay started with a gentle argument between my wife and daughter and me. They won. Here’s why: As I often do in summer, I’ve found myself thinking about how special summer was as a kid and wondering if, as an adult, it remains so. As such I wanted to start this essay with something like; “remember when we were kids and summer was so special…”

However, the real point I wanted to focus on was that here in the South Bay we are fortunate to live in a place where summer provides so many opportunities for us to experience the childlike revery of summer. In losing the argument it occurred to me that the antidote to nostalgia is revery.

I write this from Mammoth as I join Mira Costa, San Pedro and Palos Verdes high schools in their annual high-altitude cross-country training camp. Heading up to Mammoth in the first week of August has been a special time of summer for me for many years.  Spending time running the trails, watching the kids as they mustered the courage for the Lake George rock jump and experiencing the younger kids as they wake up to the beauty and challenge of the mountains is all revery for me. This Mammoth trip in August, our family trip to Cape Cod in July, and all the activities and events in South Bay remind me that summer does have its special rhythms and experiences.

So as our summer winds down, I’ve asked you to share your revery:

• Dana, who in her fifties discovered a passion for volleyball, said it is spending time at the beach learning from the more experienced players struggling to improve her volleyball game.

• For Kane it’s all about training for baseball as he prepares for his senior season at Bard College.
  
  
  
• Many mentioned junior guards –I think of the first session of JGs as the official start of summer in South Bay. Speaking of this I’d like to share a cute story: Just as the kids were arriving for the first morning of the first session at Tim Kelly beach in south Hermosa, I was riding my bike north on harbor drive headed to work.  A few kids buzzed by me on their e-bikes, not reckless, just moving along, soon after a single kid on a regular bike passed me peddling his ass off his junior guard backpack bouncing all over his back as he tried to keep up with the e -bikers. I wanted to ride up to him and reassure him that he was the cool kid, but I demurred, thinking he might not agree with me.
  
  
  
• For Rick it’s racing on the Fourth of July 5k and training for Hometown 10K all the while meeting the crew early at valley park after having already done a 10-mile “pre-run”.
  
  
  
• For Susan and Mike, it’s their 15th consecutive pier to pier swim. The support, mutual admiration and friendly competition they demonstrate towards each other will inspire any couple.
  
  
  
• For some of us it’s the return of our college students and all that comes with that. My daughter, for instance, has a particular talent for choosing whatever car is available, driving it to fumes, picking the next one, driving that to fumes and so on… so summer means to me a guaranteed empty car. Yet we adore having her home for music, sushi dinners and philosophical conversations.
  
  
  
• For many of you it’s participating in the Six-Man Tournament – maybe the peak summer weekend in Manhattan beach. Which also means no parking, crowded streets and restaurants and people walking five abreast across the bike path while looking aimlessly at the Strand homes. Reminding us that summer is also a time for us to practice patience and tolerance, both of which, admittedly, I am inconsistent.
  
  

As fall approaches I’d like to encourage us all to welcome the change of season as an opportunity to try new things and shift our mindset to the opportunity to our health and wellbeing and, instead of waiting for New Year’s resolutions, we can use the upcoming months to prepare for 2026 ready and able for the new versions of ourselves. 

We at LASPC will be introducing some new programming in the form of classes and workshops with a focus on mind, posture and spine and breath.

Look for our next newsletter for details and schedule, and please feel free to request specific topics or classes you’d like us to explore.

In health,

Dr. Steve