Summertime

Summertime means family picnics, camping, outdoor BBQ’s, etc….Discuss what summertime means to you and what you typically have done in the past……..what would you like to do during the summertime now and in the future?

My father used to work the 3pm-11pm shift and was off Thursdays and Fridays. Almost every Thursday and Friday night during the summer we would BBQ in the backyard.  We were allowed to play with our friends until the street lights came on,or until we heard my father’s whistle. We would sit in the backyard and beg my father to take us to Dairy Queen for dessert. Torturing us, he would never relent until the last minute.  Then, the entire family would hop in the car and have the same discussion as always, “what will you get?”.  Our choices were simple: vanilla, chocolate, or a mixed swirl–no dip because it falls off and causes a mess.

With friends we’d play Old Lady Witch Are You Coming Out Tonight as well as Red Light Green Light. When we got a little older, at ten or twelve we played kick the can, relievio, and the girls began to try our skills at Double Dutch jump roping.  Our lives were very simple, but I enjoyed summer immensely.  My father was a beach lover, so many days we would head off to a local Boston Harbor Beach such as Malibu on Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester or Carson Beach in South Boston until he had to go to work.  I can still see him hanging his swimming trunks on the side view mirror so that they would dry on the way home. (wicked embarrassing for a 13 year old girl)  On special days we would go to Fantastic Beach, known to everyone else as Nantasket.  

Summer also included camping with my cousins at Weirs Beach in NH, my parents renting a cottage in Marshfield, or the ultimate–a family trip to Ireland for 6 weeks.  Ultimate only holds when the sun was shining. We spent 6 weeks in the rain one year.

I still love to go to the beach, and I can’t burn my feet on the hot sand without thinking of my father and our family trips. A good friend reminded me recently of a time my father packed way too many of us in his car and carted us off to a local beach.  All that  we needed to be happy was water, a few friends, peanut butter, jelly and sand sandwiches, and a hot, cheap soda that was wrapped in tin foil.

As a teacher, I have spent the last few summers teaching summer school or taking classes in July, and more often than not in August I have gone on a summer holiday. I would like to spend more time at the beach, read more books, and make time to visit with friends i haven’t seen in a while. 

As my marriage approaches and I begin a new phase of life, I hope that I can mimic for my children the happy memories my parents gave us as children.

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