Driving home the other night, I caught the first installment of All Things Considered’s seasonal series Summer Song Favorites, in which they asked songwriter Todd Snider to recall the single song that makes him most think of summer.

Snider’s answer was the 1972 Looking Glass hit “Brandy” (as in, “Brandy, you’re a fine girl, what a gooood wife you would be”); the segment was beyond delightful. For this 40-something, “Brandy” transported him back to his parent’s yard, where the barbecue was fired up, the family was gathered, and his dad was lip synching the words into a spatula. I could hear the smile on his face as he revisited this memory, made tangible by the power of music.

That show got me thinking. About the song Brandy, for one, which has a remarkable way of getting stuck in your head for days on end. But also about what that song captures summer for me. And about the moments in my youth when my own family laughed together – it’s the colors, the smells and of course the sounds of those scenes that together create a sensory imprint from my distant past.

I have young children now, myself, and I also considered this from their point of view. I can’t be sure which pieces of our home life – which exact quirky moments or meals or conversations – they will take with them into adulthood. But I do know that if I give them some sense of tradition – no matter how small, or off-beat – chances are they will, indeed, take something.

This coming weekend, during our usual Sunday breakfast and ball game, I will probably pause and look around, and wonder what, at that moment, in our well-loved home, might be making an impression. And if they’re lucky, and there’s a spatula near by, I might just grab it and sing.

[Main Image: istockphoto.com]