William is done with school for the year. I picked him up in the car and we went to the grocery store so that he could pick out the celebratory desert of his own choosing. He chose a cheesecake sampler, in case you are curious.
He said it several times: "I don't have to go back for 3 whole months..." and he would give this big sigh, and such a happy smile.
I remembered that joy, getting off the bus for the last time in June, having the summer stretching before me, an empty notebook waiting to be filled. It's different now. When I was a child, no one looked for things to fill our days. We lived in a remote area. My mother did not drive.
Every two weeks, the book mobile came and we would walk into town with our books, crossing the old railroad trestle that scared me to pieces because of the open spaces between the ties. I could see the water rushing below. I was afraid of heights.
For a week in the summer, a church held a vacation Bible school, and one of the mothers from that church would drive out to pick us up.
One day we always got to go to the Garland Gala Days. My grandparents bought us each a book of ten tickets. We would talk about nothing BUT the rides we were going to ride. In those days, one ticket equaled one ride. There was live music. We always got to play one game.
For a time, the local radio station played the old time radio shows, a half hour of pure entertainment starting at 5 PM. Fibber McGee and Molly was a huge favorite. The Lone Ranger, The Shadow.
And day by day, summer writ itself. We were often bored, but we had great imaginations, and that carried us through.
It is different for William. There are pool passes and sleep overs. A trip to Michigan. A trip East to see his aunt and uncle. The summer reading program. Camping trips, Minibike riding. Time with his cousins. A lot of effort is put into figuring out how to keep William entertained this summer.
It's a good mix of fun and opportunities to make money and seeing new things.
He won't be bored, and I guess that's good, but I cannot help but remember those long ago summer days. There was a sweetness to long empty days which wrote themselves. I hope he has a chance to experience that as well.
I think you had good summers. He might too, but I don't think they will fill him with nostalgia in the same way.
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember we just had 6 weeks summer holiday but it still appeared to last forever.
ReplyDeleteThree months sounds and incredibly long period to have to fill. In England the summer holidays are half that length and I don't hear any parents campaigning for longer.
ReplyDeleteI wonder when it became so important to fill up our children's time with structured activities? Because hardly anyone I know lets that happen now.
ReplyDeleteI grew up on a dairy farm with no close neighbors. Dairy cows expect you to be there every day, two times a day. With all the other chores to be done I did not need to look for something to do, my parents always had something for me to do. I am an only child but never felt lonely or in the need for something to do. It was a treat when my cousins came by and we could play hid and seek, kick the can or red rover for a few hours.
ReplyDeleteI hated the end of school. It meant farm work 12 hours a day instead of two or three hours after school. My joyful time was always the first day of school. But I do remember long days of downtime especially over winter break and long for similar days again.
ReplyDeleteMy children always had lots of unstructured time, both after school and in the summer. I think it's one reason they had such great imaginations. I bet William will be spending some time playing with his new system he saved up for. I'm glad he'll be reading, too.
ReplyDeleteAkron, Ohio. There was no structured activities. Vacation began in June and ended the Wednesday after Labor Day. There was a family vacation that was two plus weeks long. Various camping adventures. And from the time I was 12 or 13, vacation included caring for my sister, ten plus years younger, while Mom worked.
ReplyDeleteThe endless summer days stretched into unimageable distance when we would return to school. We were bored at times but never for long. Wet days were the worst. Then the dreaded back to school shoe ads would be begin to appear on tv. How I hated them.
ReplyDeleteOur summer holidays coincided with Christmas and have been slashed to between five and six weeks. No sooner are the Christmas ads finished than the back to school ads start. I think a good long summer holiday is a great idea.
ReplyDeleteI remember the joy of summer holidays. We were free range kids so were never bored. It looks like William has lots of positive things to do.
ReplyDeleteIt always seemed like the sun shone every day but I am sure it didn't. Great memories Debby.
ReplyDeleteI remember we spent lots of time at the pool in town. We would ride our bikes there and hang out until time to go home for dinner!
ReplyDeleteHappy Summer, William! My kiddos specifically asked for no camps and what not this year. They just want to go to the water park and to the lake. Mrs. Shife and I were totally on board with that especially since they are old enough that we can drop them off at the water park.
ReplyDeletesummers were days of building tree houses..walking miles to a large stream with food and a tea kettle for picnics... bike riding 7 miles to the Dairy Queen for 10 cent ice cream cones - another dime for chocolate dip... baseball games... reading comic books. Parents were working so we were free!!
ReplyDeleteAhhh summer vacation!🤩In Norway we had around 6 weeks off free school, and there was absolutely nothing planned for us.. I don’t remember that ever bothering me! Still- there are so many nice activities during summer for kids these days, and some are really worth while.. so I hope William will have a good mix of activities and nothing to do.. being bored isn’t bad! Best wishes.. Ricki🤗
ReplyDeleteOur summer vacations were quite unstructured as well, though we did go to day camp some years, and we always took at least two trips -- one up north to see my grandparents and one to the beach for a week. (Come to think of it, maybe summers were more structured than I remember!) I do recall a lot of empty hours watching reruns of "The Monkees" and "Ultraman" on television.
ReplyDelete