I love summer! Sunshine. Hot weather. Swimming pools. Cool drinks. Baseball. Watermelon. Picnics. Patios. Barbeque. I love it all.

My love of summertime started as a kid. NO SCHOOL! My best friend and I would meet up after breakfast and literally play all day long. On most summer days we would pack our lunches so that we wouldn’t have to be home until supper and then we would resume playtime again until dark. There were only a few rules in the summer:

1. Be home in time for supper.
2. Be home again before dark (and that could be bypassed if you had a pre-approved backyard campout at your friend’s house).
3. Go to Mass on Sundays.
4. Take an occasional bath (especially prior to aforementioned Mass).

Summertime and the livin’ was easy! Lena Horne sang it and we lived it…

Hunting "Wild Chihuahuas" on "The Hill"

Of course times were simpler back then and maybe safer, too. Certainly parents didn’t have the fears then that they do today. The only helmets that we had were our “Army helmets” that we wore when we played soldiers. We swam in creeks. We drank out of those same creeks. We played in open fields. We ate wild berries. And we somehow survived.

Today begins the 4th of July weekend and I’m determined to let my grandkids be a little adventurous today. We won’t be drinking creek water but maybe we’ll drink from the garden hose when the “adults” aren’t looking. Maybe we can run around barefoot in the backyard. Or perhaps we’ll “hunt for wild Chihuahuas” up on the hill in our overgrown garden. I love that my grandkids encourage my need to be a kid.

I hope that you get to have some summer fun, too!

Peace,

Denis