boys of summer by Pamela Francis
Summers were like a box of chocolates when I was growing up. You never knew what you were going to get. Would it be a total bore, rife with disappointments and nothing to write about later when the “what did you do this summer” questions arose? Would it be a grab-bag of surprises and never-saw-that-comings, full of new friends, unlikely romances and life-changing encounters…?
Often times I’d make a loooong ride (about 17 hours) in the back seat of my grandmother’s big Cadillac all the way from the Bronx, NY to Bamberg, SC. How I loved those times. I still feel the memories wash over me whenever a certain song plays on the radio reminding me of those days… The Eagles’ I Can’t Tell You Why… Steely Dan’s Peg… Earth Wind & Fire’s That’s The Way of the World… Though there would invariably be more mosquito bites than surface area on my exposed brown legs, arms, shoulders and ankles by summer’s end, I would spend hours on end running, playing, bike riding, tree climbing, mud-pie baking and just chilling on the porch with my southern suburban neighborhood of pals and cousins.
My two boys don’t have the same summer experience I used to, and on some level I feel sorry for them. As of yet there is no “grandmother’s house” to “go down south” to and eat watermelon and butter beans straight out the garden and eggs that just seem to taste fresher than anywhere else for some reason. My boys couldn’t take it if they were exposed to the bites and stings I endured summer after summer like a trooper from aged 7 to 13. They haven’t known the unparalleled thrill of running barefoot from the rain as it chases you in sheets of pelting drops all the way down the road to somebody’s house for shelter or your own grandmother’s awning, only to abruptly stop, dry up and become oppressively hot and buggy again.
They do, however, have the California beaches. And how blessed they are! I was hard pressed to get anyone to take me to the pool, let alone the ocean, when I was a kid during those NY and SC summers. Consequently, I became an avid pool-frolicker and beach-goer as a young adult and now as a mom. They’re also quite the skate enthusiasts I’m tickled to observe. All in all, I love the way I get to experience summer through the child’s-eye view of my young two.
