The Good Old Summer Time

I remember summer.

I speak in past tense because I've noticed that summer is getting shorter as the years go by. In fact, I find that summers today only vaguely resemble those of my childhood.

Summer seemed to last forever back then. As a little girl, I looked forward every year to three full months of being out of school, enjoying long hot sunny days spent riding my bike, swimming with friends, picking tomatoes from the garden with my Dad, and hanging out at the county fair. Those glorious days arrived faithfully at the end of May and lasted until after Labor Day.

I also recall having mixed feelings as mid-August arrived, bringing along with it my birthday. That was back when I actually liked the idea of growing a year older, but in my mind the date was bittersweet as it also symbolized the beginning of the countdown to the start of a new school year. After August thirteenth, we only had a few weeks left. That aspect of my birthday never failed to dampen my spirits a bit. It was then, I'd begin feeling somewhat nostalgic about one more summer that was about to slip through my grasp, and start making efforts to squeeze every bit of enjoyment possible out of what was left of it.

Oh to have that kind of summer back again!

When we moved to Georgia a few years ago, I was excited over the idea of living in a warmer climate than my home state of Ohio had to offer. I imagined how much I'd cherish what would surely be the extended summers here.

Little did I know.

As it turns out, southerners don't embrace summer time in the way I am accustomed.

Maybe it's because they don't experience the same harshness of the winter months. They don't know what it feels like to look forward to mid-March when the official thaw begins every year.

Not once have they been stuck inside their house for days on end, or felt the pain of stepping outside and taking in a lung full of bitterly frozen winter air.

They have no idea how thrilling it can be to wave to the neighbors for the first time each spring as they emerge from their houses after months of seclusion.

No, instead I've discovered that most people here (my husband included) actually dread the summer months.

As if that sort of mindset isn't depressing enough, our school systems seem compelled to go above and beyond the call of duty towards screwing up the summer months. Remember, I said I use to consider mid-August the beginning of the official countdown to the end of the season? Here, the kids are back in school BEFORE my birthday even arrives.

It makes no sense to me at all. It's a hundred degrees outside and what do we do? We put our babies on buses and send them off to school in the sweltering heat!

About the time I am ready to really sink my teeth into the good old summer time, it's over! No more out of town vacations, no more spending weekdays on the lake, no more staying up late and sleeping in.

It ends as quickly as it began. Summer is gone! No more! Zilch! Disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Shoot! The stores here stop selling summer merchandise shortly after the first of July. In fact, instead of using my birthday as the all important marker of the "beginning of the end", I now start my countdown over Independence Day weekend.

In my ever so humble opinion, there's something very wrong with that!

I say, BRING SUMMER BACK! Instead of pushing our kids out the door the first week of August, let's fix another pitcher of sweet tea and head for the front porch swing. Let's stand in the yard and talk to the neighbors over the back fence until dark, without worrying about getting the kids to bed "on time". Instead, let's give them mason jars and tell them to go catch lightning bugs or hand them flashlights and send them out to play "flashlight tag".

Autumn will be arrive soon enough. The leaves will turn brown and fall, leaving the trees naked and gray. It will be dark by six o'clock every night and we will be turning on the furnace and staring at our calenders, not believing there are only "x" number of shopping days until Christmas.

Until then, C'mon people! Let's get out there enjoy the beautiful freedom of the summer days while we can!