Short summer

Is it just me, or is summer a lot shorter than it used to be when we were kids? Is it just my adult point of view that looks back fondly on endless days of indecision? Beach or swimming pool? Ride bikes or build a fort? Hit the mall or paint our nails? Listen to Donny Osmond or make prank calls? Day after day, week after week, month after month.

Summer has never been like that for my kids. This year Pete was at camp in New Hampshire for a month, then we did a week-long family vacation. Then he had exactly two weeks with “nothing to do” – except follow his coach’s daily workout schedule to get in shape for soccer. Then it was soccer day camp, which will be followed next week by RHS soccer tryouts and team practice, and then it’s the first day of school. I know many kids who had even more structure to their summer, with enrichment classes and such. It’s a different pace than my childhood summers.

It’s not just me…summer in Ridgewood really is shorter than the summers of my youth. In my hometown, the last day of school was around June 5, and the first day of school was after Labor Day. We had three full months of summer! Of course, we wasted it. We accomplished nothing. We participated in no “organized” activities. We did no “prep.” It was lovely.

I love all the opportunities that my kids have now. Their view of the world is greatly expanded from what mine was at their age. But I miss, on their behalf, the idea of lazy, unplanned, summer days.