Summer Memories

So here we are the day after the summer solstice…so summer has now officially begun! Summer is the time of leisure days, soaking up some sun, ice cream, corn on the cob, fresh picked strawberries, and of course a hot sizzling afternoon by the pool or the lake. As with all seasons, summer brings back many wonderful memories for me growing up in Michigan. Kid Rock’s song ”Sweet Home Alabama” brings back  memories, especially when he sings about the summer in Northern Michigan…love his version for that reason. My family was lucky enough to have a family summer cottage on one of the Michigan lakes and we spent many days and weeks there. I loved going to the cottage, and that it was, a cottage…not one of these fancy summer homes you see now, but a good old rustic cottage. Had that certain smell and feel, at night all the screen windows were open and we could smell the sweet summer air and lake…my great grandfather built it, so it had an even more special feel. After my grandpa retired, my grandparents lived there year round, so it was always fun to go spend a week with G&G…and of course every family celebration was always spent at the lake. Eventually my dad took it over as my grandparents became to old to live there, so as a teenager that was the spot to be…meeting those summer ‘loves’, water skiing every day, skinny dipping every night, and sleeping in the bunkhouse w all my girlfriends spooking each other out during the night. 

As a mother now of young adults, I often wonder what their memory will be of their youthful summer days. We do have a pool in the backyard and spent many days and nights with the neighbor kids in the pool…but I wonder if they will have the same innocent memories of summer as I did. We didn’t have soccer tournaments to attend, or weekly camps to go to, or computers/cell phones to take up our day…it truly was a lazy, hazy summertime.

So if you have children and when they start saying how bored they are…let them be bored, let them figure out some adventure to explore in the backyard, or make up some silly game to play w friends…keep summer innocent and fun…go out and look for shapes and figures in the clouds, catch fire flys at night, smell the sweet summer air.

We are all so busy now in our lives that we do need to step back and just enjoy each day that the summer brings us, let’s face it, around here summer is short, so don’t rush through it…I think of summertime as the time to let anything fly, school is out so if the kids want to stay up a little later let them, instead of taking a bath; go jump in a pool or lake, just allow yourself and everyone around you to be that kid that you use to be….it’s Summer!!!

Soak it all up and enjoy the moment!

Molly

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