Rebecca's Thought's on Summer

This week Summer got here after a lazy Winter that seemed to have great difficulty turning loose. It hadn’t been much of one anyway and hanging on too long didn’t improve the stats.

Seasonal changes seem so gradual to me that it takes something significant for me to accept that one has passed and another has begun. Memorial Day is a signal to me that temperatures are going to change just like Labor Day tells me that school will start soon and routines will replace the slower pace of summer. Traffic will become more congested in the mornings and the holidays will be here too soon.

But Father’s Day is a huge reminder to me that summer is here and I recall my childhood with poignant nostalgia. Childhood summers were divine at my house. We had a huge screened-in porch complete with wicker swing and ceiling fan, rattan rugs, and a ping-pong table. Corny as it sounds, we shelled peas and Mother cooked fresh veggies and cornbread and a pie almost every day . In the summer, there was straw-

berry shortcake often and blackberry cobblers and cucumbers and onions in vinegar in the fridge. Our house wasn’t air-conditioned until I was older, the house was built in 1909 with high ceilings and hardwood floors. A great house to grow in during a time when children were reared and not feared and rules were respected.

Of course, it was a simpler time as the world was huge and what happened in one part of the world didn’t immediately affect us. Technology was present in the form of telephones, running water, heaters, fans, gas stoves and such. We got a TV when I was 9 years old!! It mainly ran that old Indian-head test pattern and we would watch that!

Well, it seemed simpler to me because I didn’t worry about much. My parents were clearly in charge and I didn’t have to fret much over anything as I knew they would take care of things. It was great being a kid and I’m thankful every day for the grandparents I had and the great childhood they provided.

We need to let our kids be kids while teaching them skills they’ll need for the tasks we know lie ahead. We can keep most of that secret from them so they won’t start worrying about ACT’s and college and taxes and earning a living when they don’t really know what those things are. Prep them, teach them self-reliance, and slowly let them become adults. They will be that a lot longer than they will get to be children.

Hope you all have a great summer!

Rebecca Ward