Remember when you were young, summer was never long enough.
There were the hot days of lounging in the creek, swimming in the pond,
relaxing in the shallow water while the rest jumped and swam.
It felt like we had just gotten started with summer,
when, bam, it was over!
It still feels the same today.
I want more days of lounging on the beach,
watching the birds fly by while the kids swim and argue.
More days of settling arguments and finding jobs for them to do.
More days of watering plants, eating sweet corn,
and cracking open a big watermelon.
We’ve barely gotten started and it’s almost over.
Summer days of sending the kids to the garden
instead of looking at the mess yourself.
Toast and tomatoes for supper again,
with a side of ever abundant cucumbers.
Afternoons spent riding back and forth on the mower
instead of getting one of the kids to do it for you,
because you only get to mow for a few months
and you miss the smell of fresh mowed grass.
Summer afternoons when I was a kid meant riding around the hay field
on the back of the wagon filled with bales.
Every round meant climbing another row higher
and hoping there were no snakes crawling out
of the freshly packed bales.
It was great fun then, but looking at it
from my perspective now makes me hot and itchy.
Summer days could be the longest when you were a kid,
especially if you were waiting for something to happen.
When we knew we were going on a trip or having an evening party,
oh, man, those were the longest days ever.
We laid in the grass and waited for hours,
checked in with mom again to find only 10 minutes had passed.
Today, my kids still believe the same.
Not me, I don’t believe that anymore.
Hours fly by like hot wheels ,
leaving less and less time to get things done,
especially in the summer, but really, that is year ’round I guess.
Summer is for getting together with family,
sitting long and talking much.
It is enjoying each other because you never know.
Summer evening are for cousins,
being at Grandma’s spending time together
and making memories that will last for years.
And of course ice cream, always ice cream.
When I was a kid summer with family meant cabin parties.
Someone would call and suggest supper at the cabin
and we would load up hot dogs and home made ice cream
along with all the kids in the back of the truck.
It was a fun night around the fire,
with adults catching up while the kids raced around the lawn.
When the mosquitos started biting it was time to go home,
until next time.
Summer days equals eating every other hour,
or so it seems and feels to the cook.
They consume copious amounts of food,
always need a snack, eat another meal, and repeat.
I’m glad my car doesn’t need this much fuel.
I remember mom cooking big meals for the farmers
and in the mind of a child it seemed she must have made
a feast like Almazno and Alice had for Christmas
because of the the never ending pile of dishes staring at me.
My memory serves me quite well of how I used to wash them.
Mom would often say, “Just wash for 15 minutes and then you may go.”
That equaled about 10 dishes at my speed of a turtle
and left an entire counter full for her to finish.
Today on a hot summer day if all is well and at peace,
there are more than a few times
I will not disrupt the quiet calm with a dishwasher call.
Summer is about having your children around,
enjoying time and having fun with them.
It is literally standing and watching your son
grow right out of his clothes and shoes.
Boys stretch at the pace of a race
and the mom seems to always be behind in that race.
It is going to town with the little one and hearing,
“Oh mom, we would looooove to have this.”
It is making popsicles and licking the drips,
and eating ice cream before it melts.
It is riding to Grandma’s for a chat,
tossing a fishing line and listening to the bull frogs sing.
It is the time to look back on and smile about.
Summer days are still all I remember them to be,
with a little or a lot more added to them.
Long live summer.
