It’s just past the Fourth of July. With that in mind I’m reminded that I spend way too much time indoors on this here typing machine. But a glance at my phone also reminds me that it’s almost 90 degrees outside and this ac is feeling like a best friend right now. I’m reminded that I once went in for a check-up where the cro… er, doc said I was lacking in Vitamin D and how I couldn’t possibly have an issue like that if I spent as much time outside in summer as I did when I was younger. And now I’m thinking that it’s absolutely nuts how much time I spend indoors when there was a point in my childhood that there seemed like NOTHING to do indoors if it was summer. Summertime is a joy, and I for one think that it’s a shame we generally take less and less opportunities to enjoy it as we get older.
I haven’t been out for ice-cream in a while, and even though I have it all the time (maybe more than I should), going out for ice-cream is a treat that reminds me of summertime as a child. I remember a time when I thought cookie dough ice-cream was bad for you but not caring one bit if it was when I got my spoon in some. I also remember the magical music of… the ice-cream truck! Every neighborhood’s ice-cream truck man has to be their first celebrity, right? Like a friendly pied piper (horrible reference btw but I have a complicated sense of humor) he’d show up, and by some stroke of heavenly genius he would have EVERY ice-cream/ popsicle/ candy a child could dream of. After running around in the sun all day, hearing that jingle and getting your favorite treat from the truck was really a taste of the good life. As I write this I’m sure there are few other things in life as wonderfully convenient as the ice-cream truck that shows up on your block at just the right moment on a hot summer afternoon. God bless the little things.
Remember how amazing firework shows were as a child? It was THE BEST when you could catch a really big fireworks shows with the loud bangs and howls and pops, and every color you could imagine lighting up the evening sky. But even small neighborhood and backyard events were cool too! Firecrackers and poppers and sparklers and Roman candles, squeals and oohs and aahs and smiles. No matter how long they lasted, they were always over too soon. And no matter how many times you’d seen them, the awe was always there. I’m much less likely to make a big deal out of going to see fireworks nowadays, but I’ve gotta say that they’re still pretty darned cool when I do catch them.
No matter how long they lasted, they were always over too soon.
As a child in summertime, the pool is life. I’m a less than stellar swimmer to put it lightly but I definitely remember enjoying many summer afternoons at the pool. A cannonball as soon as you get there; there’s no other way to get in the pool, period. The shock of the cool, refreshing water all around your body after being in the sometimes unforgiving sun (which I appreciate very much; thank you, Sun… don’t stop shining) is one of those fleeting life pleasures that don’t get enough shine. Chicken fights, hand squirts, diving for sinkers and water up the nose. A lot f water up the nose. But you take the bad with the good, right? And the pool was a great deal of good. I also remember spending A TON of time at the water park at our local Six Flags while growing up. My sister and I would make sure to pack our swimwear so that we could spend as long as we could in the water. We’d go to the slides, then to the wave-pool, then to the Lazy River (or some variation of that combo), mixing in the splash rides and getting good and pruned before calling it quits and heading for the drier half of the park. That summer sun of youth could be pretty tough, but it also made those water adventures that much more satisfying. I’m sure if I chose to engage in those adventures more moving forward, I would experience much of the same joy that I did all those years ago.
Summertime meant exploring
I remember going out on trails, and riding my bike with friends all day. I couldn’t tell you when the last time I rode a bike that wasn’t stationary was, but I can tell you that when I did, I DID. I remember taking my bike out and riding as far out as I could. If I had been somewhere on my bike before then it wasn’t long an option; I was out to go where I hadn’t been before. Finding a new path to ride or a new shortcut was just like finding treasure. And it didn’t matter if I wasn’t riding because there was just so much to DO outside during summer! Trees to climb, rocks to throw and skip, woods to explore. Creeks, caves and caverns, fields, anthills, dead logs, jungle-gyms. Summertime meant freedom. Summertime meant exploring. The world was mine and everyday was just another opportunity to check out as much of it as I could. On consideration only a few things have changed, and though I’d like to make a bunch of excuses for not still being that way now, essentially I can always choose to get out more and relive the moments in nature that I enjoyed back then.
I remember going to summer school once. I don’t wanna say that I must be getting old now but the fact that I’m not sure of exactly what year that was or how old I was probably says more than I’d like it to. What I do remember, however, is that this wasn’t school like regular school. No; this was different. Shorter, less formal, and somehow way more fun than regular school. I remember learning about surface tension (we were playing with bubbles; great way of getting that concept to stick), metamorphosis, and a few other things (that I am desperately grasping for in my head but are foggier than a fall morning). But what I remember most is being OUTSIDE. I remember that for that brief summer school (more camp than school… schamp maybe?!) I had fun learning about cool stuff. I remember thinking that if school was as fun all the time as it was that summer, it probably wouldn’t drag so much.
I guess I say all this to say that I have really great memories of summers in my childhood. A lot of that had to do with the environment I was raised and the opportunities that I was blessed with. A lot of factors come together to create our experiences, and I was lucky enough to have good ingredients coming up. But I think a large part of why I (and most others) have fond memories of our summers as children is because we truly felt free. School is the biggest responsibility of a child but when summer rolls around, that’s no longer an issue. You are free to dream and imagine and explore in a way that you can’t do while school is in session. As adults there are certainly responsibilities that we can’t just put away, but maybe setting some time aside to be free and fully experience the everyday joys of life can bring us back to the way we felt when we were children. Especially during the summer, because I’ve gotta admit that even though it’s almost 90 degrees outside, it probably still feels pretty damned good.