Summertime Blues

I remember endless Summer days as a child.  My sister and I would spend all afternoon nearly every afternoon playing in the neighborhood with the neighborhood kids.  We even called ourselves the 5th Street gang and we known to put on a show or two.  There were kickball games in the street.  We would all yell "CAR!" as a warning to get out of the road when a car turned our direction.  We collected the ball when we heard the warning, stepped to the curve and as the car passed we would wave to the driver and he/she would drive back.  How rare is this today?  It would not happen in my neighborhood.

Other days found us rollerskating in driveways, the Marinkovichs had the steepest drive and most fun to maneuver in skates.  Endless loops were made around that driveway to Olivia Newton John's, "Lets Get Physical".  Some days found us at my grandparents or on the farm with dad or at the swimming pool.  I do not remember being bored even though my mom may have different memories.

Today's world is one where the kids are not safe to play unattended even in my "good" neighborhood.  And even if it was "safe" it is just too damn hot to go outside most afternoons.  My poor fair skinned babies can't take direct sunlight for long.  I joke (kinda) that we could have been cast in the Twilight series movies.  We are a white family and its not just our ethnicity.  

I do not miss just the Summers of my youth, I miss Summer in general.  Americans work hard, I get that but in my perfect world we would get a "Holiday" like in Europe.  A time to enjoy our families and the world around us without the stress of work, endless email and the guilt associated with being a working parent.  I have my kids in camps or with sitters from 745AM til 5 PM everyday.  I tell myself they are having fun and/or don't know any better but I know what they are missing and my heart breaks for what they are missing which is one of life's simple pleasures: Summer.