I was sitting in my back yard one evening this past week, tiki torches lit and providing a soft glow to my patio – fireflies slowly rising from the lawn, and I couldn’t help but wax nostalgic about summers gone by.

As a kid growing up (many moons ago), summer was the one of the best times of the year.  Free from the shackles of school until September, the long, lazy days were a wonderland of childhood imagination, play, and just plain fun.  This was also before the preoccupation with all things electronic (cell phones, YouTube, and the like), so as kids, we actually had to find things to do to pass the time.  Listed below are some of my favorite memories:

Playing Outside

Do kids even do this anymore?  It’s all I ever remember.  There was no internet, Netflix, or other electronics.  We put on our clothes in the morning, went outside – and stayed there until dark.  My brother and I played epic games of one-on-one whiffle ball (every hit was a run).  We rode bicycles and “big wheels” on driveways.  We built forts in the woods.  We blew bubbles.  We played and fished in the creek at my Dad’s house, damming up the stream with rocks and baiting our hooks with fat nightcrawlers, catching and releasing sunfish and croakers.  We would spend hours on the swing set at my grandfather’s, counting the train cars as they sped by on the tracks behind his house, drinking bottles of grape “Nehi” (pronounced “Knee-High”) or Royal Crown Cola that we got from his small grocery store.  We climbed trees.  We chased fireflies at dusk, collecting them in a jar with holes on the lid.  We slept outside in tents that we put up in the yard.

Family Reunions

It was a staple of summertime.  My Dad would invite his siblings (there were eight of them) and their families over for a traditional summer picnic.  The garage was lined with tables.  The grill would be covered in aluminum foil as hamburgers and hot dogs sizzled away.  Lawn chairs dotted the yard.  There were plenty of side dishes, sodas, and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.  All the aunts and uncles would tell me how much I’d grown and ask what grade I was heading into in the fall.  The men would play horseshoes and the ladies would all sit in a circle and talk.  On my Mom’s side, we’d all pack up in the car and travel to Uniontown, PA for the annual reunion on her side of the family, where the entire scene was repeated.  There was always plenty of food, conversation, and laughter.

Seasonal Foods

Food defined the summer season.  Heirloom tomatoes.  Sweet corn.  Homemade snow-cones.  Macaroni salad.  A tall glass of iced tea or lemonade.  A big slice of watermelon.  Penny candy.  Anything on the grill.  Cracking crabs (as kids, we were just allowed to work on the claws).  “Little Hugs” (the flavored drinks that came in a small, plastic barrel).  Hand-cut French fries and country ham sandwiches from the local carnival. Double cherry popsicles (split in half on the counter to share – each person getting a stick) that turned your lips and tongue a deep red.  Marshmallows toasted over an open fire.

Summer Travel

My grandparents would place the names of local attractions on slips of paper and toss them in a hat, which we would draw from each week for our weekly outings.  We petted small ponies at the “Land of Little Horses” in Gettysburg, picnicked at “Devils’ Backbone” park near Boonsboro, or even spent the day riding the “Little Toot” tugboat (and other attractions) at the “Enchanted Forest” in Ellicott City.  My aunt would take my brother and I to the Hancock public swimming pool.  We’d tour the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.  My Dad always made an annual pilgrimage to Ocean City in August for a week of riding the waves, making sandcastles, or taking in the sights and sounds of the Boardwalk.  Mom would take us to Luray Caverns, Kings Dominion, or Busch Gardens.  We always got a souvenir patch of our travels, and my mother would carefully sew them onto our “patch jackets”, which we wore with pride during the fall and spring to show off our worldly travels.

Chores

Yes, we had them.  As younger lads, my brother and I were assigned simple (but necessary) daily duties around the house.  Water the plants.  Clean our bedrooms.  Make our beds.  Put the dirty clothes in the hamper.  Take out the garbage.  Feed the cat.  As we got older, those requests and obligations were extended.  It was time to cut and trim the grass each week in the blazing heat.  Sweep off the sidewalks.  Then there was the garden.  We had a big one.  Ugggh – the endless weeding.  Pick and wash the ripe onions, radishes, carrots, tomatoes and peppers.  We’d sit on the porch for hours and shell peas, snap beans, and shuck ear after ear of corn.  All so it could be canned or frozen for the winter months. (I hated that damn garden).

All in all, it was a magical time, unlikely to be repeated by today’s younger generation.  Each season, we’d hope it all would never end, but it always did.  The Labor Day weekend and final announced tally of the Jerry Lewis-hosted Muscular Dystrophy Telethon meant that the fun was over and it was time to go back to school the next day.

Sweet, sweet memories.

What were your favorite memories of summer as you grew up?  Drop me a line in the comment section below!