How I Spent My Summer

I don't know if they still do this the first week of school but I remember when we did.  It always seemed like such a waste of time because my summers were always, always the same...nothing but playing outside.  Those were the days.  Now a parent feels they've failed their children if they don't provide summer camps, summer vacations, and exotic weekends for the little boos.

If I were to write an essay about how I spent this summer, it would read a little differently.  No summer camps, vacations, or exotic weekends but I did sell the house, spend July moving into an apartment I love, and, oh yes, had a spot of skin cancer removed which took 8 stitches...probably caused by some of those long ago summers spent outside playing with no sunscreen.

When I was a child in the 1940's, it was safe to send your little one outside to play with no supervision.  Perverts were few and far between in those days and I've spent a lot of time wondering why there are so many today.  I was a street wise child with an intact radar system that warned me who to stay away from.  That didn't prevent the odd pervert from trying to invade my space but I knew enough to run.  Unlike today, there was no-one for me to report incidences like this.  As I look back, I wonder what would have happened if I'd gone to a police officer instead of going to my grandmother.  All I got from her was, "Oh, you're just imagining it!".  I hate that expression to this day.  When a child comes to you and says someone is trying to or, heaven forbid, has molested them in some way, it is imperative that their words are not dismissed.

I remember playing baseball in vacant lots with the neighborhood kids with no parents around to organize us.  It was fun.  We didn't have matching jerseys or coaches telling us what to do so it was pure freedom for a child to learn the game without too much structure.  I never see kids playing baseball freely like this any more but I do see them playing basketball.  Always boys, though, and never girls.

We roller skated back in the day.  We called on our friends with song..."Cathy, oh Cathy!".  I wonder when that ritual bit the dust?  We wandered the streets from morning to mealtimes and then back out again.  We did the odd dangerous thing, too, but we learned how to take care of ourselves.  Young girls loved to dress alike, just like now, but we wore matching poodle skirts and sweater sets.  I was the first girl in my grade 7 class to daringly wear jeans to school and I remember one of the teachers snidely asking me if I lived on a farm.  Do you suppose I started a trend???

I'm not one who would like to go back to the way it was in the 1950's.  Every decade has it's good and bad points and the worst of the 1950's is how females were held back.  Females have so much more equality these days and I hope they understand how brave their ancestors were to help implement it.  

Now, back to my summer.  It's been an interesting one with it's share of good and bad but it's been nothing I couldn't handle.  After all, I grew up in the 1940's and 1950's so I know how to handle the unexpected.