When I think of the summer vacations of my youth the magic always started at 3:00 pm on June 8th. That was the last day of school. Back in the olden days the school year was always September 8th to June 8th no exceptions. By some cosmic glitch in the calendar of the sun those days never fell on a weekend so we could religiously schedule those dates into our 12 year PDA (if we had one back then) starting in Kindergarten. When the final bell rang the chains of academia broke loose and freedom rained on the youthful masses. A heard of mating bison couldn’t have stopped me from busting through the door of my classroom into a world of staying up late, sleeping in and no responsibilities. Of course me and every other kid in my neighborhood usually waited until June 10th before uttering the inevitable phrase, “Mom I’m bored, there’s nothing to do. “
The best part of summer is no school, no tests and no homework. Charlie L. 9 years old in Alamo
June also meant the conclusion of the little league baseball season. Little league was for ages 9-12 before the days of minors, majors, minors majors and Senior Major Minor’s. The number of boys that continued playing organized summer league baseball dropped off significantly as they got older as many gave it up in favor of summer jobs, year round commitments to other sports or to become stoners, but everyone played little league. In our town every little leaguer still has delusional aspirations of playing pro ball. Our McKelvey Park had a snack bar, PA announcer’s booth and a home run fence. If you could “park one” over the fence you were a stud. My last year of little league Jay Hines hit 15 bombs in an 18 game season. If that happened today he would be tested for steroids or Human Growth Hormones. But in 1974 he was the king of the park. I loved the glory days of little league probably because that’s when my own baseball career peaked. When we weren’t at McKelvey we were usually putting together pick up lob ball games in the streets of our neighborhood. We ate, drank and breathed baseball and the occasional broken window was just an occupational hazard paid for out of our allowance.
I like everything about summer, especially playing sports and video games with my friends. Logan P., 10 years old in San Ramon.
Summer nights were reserved for various forms of mayhem and mischief. Namely hide and seek, door bell ditch and sleepovers. Evenings were triggered when one by one we were called into the house for dinner by our crazed mother’s, who were crazed because they had been sweating over a hot stove for hours due to the fact that virtually no one had central air conditioning and no one ate light or healthy. Salads were something you ate before the meatloaf, corn on the cob, bread and mashed potatoes arrived. Once the sun set a group of a dozen or so boys and girls became children of the night and it wasn’t until the old people on the block, today they’re known as “empty nesters”, started to complain about the frenzied noise or their door bells being rang continuously for hours without a hint of an actually visitor that we were finally called in for the night, unless of course we could maneuver a sleepover. Sleepovers usually meant sleeping outside with a group of buddies in a make shift beach chair fort with no curfew. Since Dad and mom rarely stayed up past Carson, this allowed us to sneak out of the backyard for a well orchestrated TP blitz on someone’s house.
Summer is great because you get to hang out with your friends and you have so much freedom, Elliot B. 11 years old in Danville
Another haunting memory of summer was chores. My dad liked to say, “Being out of school doesn’t mean you aren’t going work young man”. To earn money you had a list of chores to complete every week. Not sissy things like putting away your CDs/ DVDs or turning off the computer, we had heavy lifting jobs like mowing the lawn…with a push mower, washing cars, pulling weeds, sanding the fence, scrubbing the patio and replacing the TV antenna attached to the chimney, but that last task wasn’t added to my list until I was 7. I felt like a chain gang convict doing time on Dalma Drive.
What summer was complete without the annual road trip car vacation? Name a kid who doesn’t enjoy being trapped in the back seat of a car for hours on end with warm air blasting into their face as his dad winds his way through a series of hairpin mountain passes with his mom making him eat homemade tuna sandwiches to avoid stopping. I experienced more motion sickness than if we were on a small fishing boat during the perfect storm. These trips from hell (and I don’t think Satan even takes his kids on long car trips) were topped only when we got a car with air conditioning whereby we were forced to inhale secondhand cigarette smoke for 8 hours a day from two parents each with a pack a day habit. Coal miners have cleaner lungs than me and my sister. The trip was only worth the pain if we staying in hotel with a swimming pool. Back then I dreamt of living in a Holiday Inn with an attached Denny’s restaurant. Visiting relatives was always a jip because we didn’t get to eat out or swim. Boy I loved a good chicken fried steak and a spritz.
The best part of summer is taking cool vacations with your family. Austin C., 12 years old in San Ramon
Now as I stare at my computer screen or make a sales call in the late afternoon of another hot summer day I still have flashbacks of sun burns (Coppertone is not sun screen) from a day at Santa Cruz, building a fort in the backyard, waiting for darkness at the drive in, bleacher seats at an A’s game and neighborhood pool parties. My kids wish adults got work off for the summer and frankly so do I. Reality is we don’t but I do take pleasure knowing that they are swimming, at day camps or enjoying a play date with one of their friends. Summers are a time of joy for kids and although the circumstances may be different than mine I’ll try to ensure that they have as much fun as I did. Hopefully they’ll treasure the adventures or misadventures they encounter along the way.
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