Summer…Back in the Day

(Written June, 2007)


As I sat writing on the outdoor deck of the Big Sur River Inn last evening, my senses were bombarded with all the sights, sounds and smells of summertime. The smoke of barbecue grills, chlorine swimming pools, suntan oil (or sunscreen, now days), freshly cut lawn, sun shining through leaves, and sun baked woods.

It took me back to the endless summer-times of childhood. And they were endless...all you did was wake up, play all day, take eating breaks, and play some more until your mom called you in at sundown.

I was fortunate enough to have my best friends right next door, and we would build forts in the woods by our house. We would climb to the dangerously high tree house in the back field (that older kids had already built for everyone to enjoy). We would round up all the neighborhood gang for a knock-down-drag-out kickball game in Brad's backyard--using the basement stoop as first base, the elm tree as second, the woodpile as third and a worn patch of dirt as home plate (I'm sure Brad's parents hated us for that).

Oh, and slip-n-slides!!! Pure, unadulterated aquatic fun on the hottest and stickiest of days!

When I was very little, my female friends and I would remodel the base of a towering oak into a "fairy home" in case they wanted to move in. The large tree roots provided separation between rooms. We made them tables of bark, with acorn tip plates and bowls, and we made sure there were plenty of moss blankets on their beds to keep them warm at night.

Another hallmark of summer, growing up in the Midwest, was lightning bugs! After the first couple of foolish tries at holding them captive in our bare hands all evening (and the subsequent twenty washings to get that horrible chemical smell off), we learned to use an old peanut butter jar with holes in the top...and as always, we let them go when we were done admiring their collective effort at being our lantern.

And finally, the sound of crickets with their lullaby chorus completed another summer day. (Robbie Robertson and the Red Road Ensemble have a track called “Twisted Hair,” with a slowed-down recording of crickets behind an opera singer, and it really does sound like a chorus!).

These are wonderful summer memories to have in my collection, and I'm sure many of you share similar ones from your childhood.

Sometimes it's hard to remember when life was that simple and summers were indeed timeless.