Summertime Not Sadness
Allison gets deep with some summer reflections
Summertime is officially here. Memorial Day is the start of summer, right? Most of us who are 40+ grew up in the days when school let out right before Memorial Day and started back up after Labor Day. Somehow, summer has slimmed down. Depending on what part of the country you live in or what school you might attend, the summertime release is varied. It’s held back for some and moved forward for others. It’s a shifty season now. For many without younger children in their lives or for those of us “adulting”, summer doesn’t look a whole lot different than any other season. That in itself calls for a little bit of summertime sadness.
Allison loves summer. This is a fact. Even when her kids were younger and summer ushered in stress for some mothers knowing their children would be out of a routine and without the regularly scheduled program of school and other activities, she was waiting with open arms, counting the days until the summer start. She looked forward to June and July like a kid might look forward to their birthday or Christmas. Why was this?
She took herself back through summers passed, and summers she could remember. It was Dallas, Texas in the 1980’s. Those summers were pretty idyllic. From the time she could ride a bike (probably around 5-6 years old) summer freedom began.