Summertime

The Challenge: Summertiiiiiiiiiiiime, and the living is EEEeeezzzzzzy. Tell us how you feel about summer. This summer, a childhood summer, summer traditions, random summer memories, summer sights and smells and sounds. Whatever. Wax poetic about summertime!

Summertime.

When I close my eyes and think of that word, it's like a slideshow (with smells!) in my head.

I smell freshly cut grass. And watermelon. And coconut suntan lotion. And chlorine. And hot asphalt. And sunscreen. And bug spray. And freshly cut peaches.

Ah, the perfume of summer.

There are thoughts of spending days in my dad's classroom with my sister, a bike, some rollerskates, a cassette tape of Alabama's Mountain Music and unlimited Coca Colas from dad's vending machine.

Both of my parents were teachers. After school ended for everyone else, both Dad and Mom had to work an extra two weeks (they were 10-month employees.) It kinda' sucked, because we couldn't sleep late during those two weeks, but we found ways to have fun anyhow.

My dad taught auto mechanics at a local high school, and his shop was in a separate building. It had a long sidewalk that connected it to the main building, and that sidewalk made a perfect place to ride my bike back and forth. The classroom inside the shop was cleared of all its chairs so my sister and I could rollerskate; we'd bring cassettes in from Dad's car and play them on the A/V machine. He had eclectic tastes, so we skated to Alabama, Dianne Schurr, The Beatles, Iron Butterfly, Linda Ronstadt (her jazzy phase), and many more. If we got thirsty, Dad would unlock the Coca Cola machine and let us pick a beverage from it. Then he'd throw a dollar bill in the coin cup to make the Coca Cola guy wonder how it got there (this was before dollar bill slots on vending machines.) Occasionally he would order pizza and we'd have a picnic in his classroom. Sometimes he'd even take us for a ride in his school bus (which was great, because there was a ginormous hill on the school property... it was like riding a rollercoaster!) When the blackberries in the bushes around his building were ripe, we'd pick them and take them home for Mom to make cobbler or jam. Good times.

Summertime also meant lazy days in the pool with a book or a magazine. I'd get out of bed, throw on a swimsuit and a pair of sunglasses, grab a radio and a quick cinnamon roll for breakfast and head out back. I'd swim for about an hour, then I'd find a comfy spot near the steps or on a float and I'd read the day away. There was always a break at noon when I'd stop to eat a quick lunch and listen to "Jeopardy" on the radio (our local ABC affiliate could be heard on FM 87.7). Then it would be back to reading until I was engulfed in shade; I'd take another lap or two in the pool and then head back inside. Man, those were good days. There's nothing like warm skin after a long day in the sun. I'm sure I'll pay for it later, though. I hardly ever used a drop of sunscreen. Ah, the stupidity of youth.

When I entered high school, summer started to mean serving on mission trips with my youth group. We took a trip every year. I spent one week of each summer helping put on backyard Bible clubs for neighborhood kids in Youngstown, OH (9th grade), Boardman, OH (10th & 11th grades) and Buffalo, NY (12th grade). Our youth pastor always made sure to include a fun trip either going up or coming back (King's Island in Cincinnati, Niagara Falls or Pigeon Forge, TN), and the drives there were parties themselves. There was some great (juvenile, stupid) fun had on the buses or vans on those long trips. Great fun, indeed. Have you really lived if you've never covered a sleeping person's face in shaving cream or had a CB talk with a nearby trucker?

Now summer means so many different things. We always start the summer with our annual trip to Myrtle Beach. Those trips are more fun each year, as the kids get older and more responsible (and less dependent on me!) and I always look forward to them. I love the beach and wish I lived closer to one. Reading a book on the beach while the kids play in the sand and surf is something I could do every.day.of.my.life. You can't be in a hurry at the beach. Time stands still there. I think I have salt water in my blood.

Summer means fewer responsibilities. It means less running around, less driving. I don't make the kids change out of their PJs if they don't want to (unless we're going somewhere, of course!) I try to make a good breakfast (pancakes, French toast, waffles, eggs, etc.) most mornings. We see movies. We go to the library. We take day trips on Daddy's days off. We swim (daily, now that we have our own pool! Yea!) We read and watch TV (Food TV, HGTV, Discovery Channel, History Channel, etc.) We visit the Farmer's Market and buy fresh veggies and cook 'em up for dinner. We grill out. We do stuff together. We have fun. We enjoy life.

Summertime. I wish it could last longer than 3 months.