Summertime

Summers hold very fond memories for me and as I get older I crave them even more, although they have significantly changed.
There were the summers when I was youngest and my parents sent my brother and I to summer recreation. There were definitely days we didn't want to go, but I can't help but happily recall time spent there. I remember the big brown thermos of lemonade my mom often sent with us to share at lunch with my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The smell of these treats still bring me back to those days. Recreation is where I learned to play Four-Square and hopscotch. It's where I jumped on stage every single Friday to participate in the dance contest - where I inevitably performed the same routine every week. And then of course, there was the summer I was crowned "Little Miss Summer Recreation." I remember I was shocked when my mom let me bring my best dress with me that day to perform.
Other summers were spent with my grandmother who lived with us and I was able to play with all of my neighborhood friends. We practically lived in our bathing suits and ran back and forth between the two houses with pools. I was more tan than I will ever be in my life. Alex and Tasha were my partners in crime as we played our own made up games in tree houses and bedrooms that we imagined to be class rooms and very important offices that we were in charge of.
I could go on forever describing in detail the games we played and the secrets we kept. There were long bike rides, visits to the park and Rollerblade races down Alex's steep driveway. But there were also days of great boredom with "nothing to do" that now I see as a luxury I would love to have again.
When I was 13 we moved to a new house and left my old friends behind. My brother was now driving and I was often left alone during the summer. Those were the summers of music. I fell in love with Broadway musicals and choreographed routines to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Coat (Donny Osmond version) and Annie. My family probably doesn't even know to what extent I went to learn all of the words and how I took over the entire downstairs area. I also used to set up a little recorder by the piano and belt out songs all afternoon. That is how I learned the "oldies" as I played the sheet music from my mom's collection. Up Where We Belong, Let it Be, and Five Foot Two were some of my favorites. This is also the time when I wanted to be like Rosie O'Donnell. (This was of course when she was "Queen of Nice" and...funny) I was going to have "The Beth Terry Show" and I practiced in my room with invisible celebrities.
In between the changes of my summers, there were always family vacations and special outings. Babysitting my cousin, sleepovers, church camp, VBS and other things my parents let me go to. And of course, I was always the geeky one who anticipated the return of school. Not only did it mean new clothes, but fresh new school supplies - something I still have a weird obsession with.
When I turned 16 I had my first taste of freedom as I was able to basically go where I wanted within reason. I was the only one of my friends who had a car, so we often found ourselves just driving around because we could. The road was there and we needed to travel it...even if it led us to the mall four times a week.
I'm not sure what provoked this soliloquy of summers past, but I know I appreciate them much more now that they are not quite the same. Summers are more of a business objective and there is really no separation through out the months. But I revel in my ability to not be limited in when vacations can be planned. They don't have to be summer getaways anymore, they can be Fall or Spring. Broadway musicals can still be performed in my house...just perhaps with a little less enthusiasm to spare the neighbors.
I certainly miss days of unplanned adventures and flip-flop tans, but am pleased at how my summers essentially helped shape who I am today. Eclectic memories of my summer soul.