Jill's Journal: Something smells a little fishy here ...

As my mind begins to think about spring and summer and all the great things that come along with those two seasons, a memory from my college days quickly crept in.

I’m from the era of baby oil slathered on thick, accompanied by a spray bottle of water to keep you cooled off. I spent many a summer afternoons in the backyard on a lawn chair with likely enough oil to fill the tank of a truck. But it was all for the purpose of getting that summer tan glow.

The tan, however, didn’t come right away. There were usually a few “burns” along the way – perhaps from laying on my back or belly too long – or even the unexpected nap.

When I ventured off to college, after my first year, I stayed put there. I had a summer internship all lined up and it offered an afternoon or two soaking up the sun in the backyard.

I remember scavenging a lounger from my parent’s garage, the same one that I’d spent hours in as a teen soaking up rays. I tossed the chair in the trunk for wheneover one of those afternoons of soaking up the sun came my way. 

In the days and weeks that followed, I began to smell something in my car. I explored every nook and cranny. 

Perhaps a mouse? A dead mouse?

The neighbor’s cat? A dead cat?

I cleaned my car – a lot. 

But still, the stank odor remained.

I was perplexed.

That led me to buying air fresheners. In bulk. But still, the nose-curdling odor reined superior.

Finally, one of those “afternoons in the sun” presented itself, so I hauled out the lawnchair from the trunk, and it was then and there I had found the culprit.

It was a dead fish.

And it came courtesy of my brother, who had used the chair on a day of fishing. I don’t know how the fish ended up there and not in the frying pan, but it did.

Of course, my brother found humor in the dead-fish-left-in-the-chair snafu. 

I, of course, did not.

I’ve long given up basking in the hot summer sun, basked in baby oil with a water bottle for cooling off by my side. I now long for days in the cool waters of a pool with friends and possibly an adult beverage or two. 

And I’ll admit, with my travel to warm destinations at a halt over the last year, I’m surely ready to dive in and enjoy summer from the comforts of a floating air mattress, the company of good friends, and perhaps an adult beverage or two.

As for fish, I’ve long gotten over the nasty smell of a fish out of water for way too long. Now, I much prefer them in the frying pan. Perhaps with an adult beverage or two.