The Sounds of Summer My Heart Does Truly Miss

Everywhere we move to things are different, and when we move to different parts of the country the changes can sometimes cover over the memories of times that came before. But it’s amazing how strong sensory memories can be. In particular, sounds and smells can evoke emotionally charged memories. But the really interesting thing is that even in the absence of the actual stimuli, the actual sensory experiences can be recalled by thinking about them.

For me some sounds are very closely associated with my memories of seasons. For example, there was a train that passed not too far from our house. I remember hearing the sound of the whistle every night which became part of falling asleep. But the sound became most strongly associated with winter because it was transmitted much more clearly when the weather was the coldest.

I was reminded of this today, when I read the article, “Summer Must Be Here — Cricket Has Arrived” by Shadows Pub. In it the author describes how a cricket got into their home last summer and chirped quite loudly throughout the season, to the point their radio show listeners could hear it in the background.

As I read this, I remembered the sound of crickets and katydids in the summer so strongly that it was as if I had been transported back to my childhood home. During the spring when they were just beginning to chirp and it was still cool enough to leave the windows open I could hear them so loudly. They were loud enough that even with the window closed you could hear them after everyone had gone to sleep and all was quiet.

Suddenly, I had a jolt of realization. I have never once heard crickets here in Chicago. Wondering if maybe for some reason there weren’t any hear as I’ve also never seen any, I Googled “crickets Chicago” and found out that there are not just crickets but also grasshoppers, katydids and cicadas. Yet I’ve never heard any of them. Perhaps there’s a general buzzing in the background but that is quite different from the sound of silence and the distinct sounds of crickets and katydids that you hear in the south.

I became very nostalgic, thinking back to those sounds, and how clearly the sounds were a necessary part of the definition of summer for me. There were other things as well, the smell of gardenias from my…

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