Sunday, May 2, 2021

Remember The Alphabet?

Y and Z are for YowZa

Because when I drop the ball I like to let it bounce really high.

Remember how I was blogging my way through the alphabet as part of the April A-Z Blog Challenge? Yeah, me too. And now since it's May and since I greatly dislike loose ends, let's go ahead and wrap up those last two letters. 

I do think most everyone struggles a bit with letter Z. For one thing it's hard, but also because you start to run out of blog steam by Day 26. Or in my case Day 28. 

Any-y-way...I was trying to think if there was more I'd like to tell my grands about what life was like when I was a child and summer seems worth a mention.

I spent most of my childhood in the Garden State while most cousins and both sets of grandparents lived out west, one in Colorado and one in New Mexico. Going to visit was a very big deal. People didn't fly the way they do now and I don't think cheap air fare was ever a thing. There were six in my immediate family so a cross country flight was no small undertaking. 

We loved it though, and I have a lot of happy memories from those big trips. I wrote about them in a little more detail a few years back, linked here (Colorado) and here (New Mexico)

We didn't take a family vacation every year either. We lived not too far from 'the shore' so there was always a day trip or two, but as far as what might be dubbed a real vacation there weren't many. We had a couple of fun road trips south which were part vacation/part college tour for my older sibs, and we stayed in hotels which we kids judged solely by the quality of the pool. I think we all have fond memories of our time together smooshed into the station wagon. 

We belonged to a neighborhood swim club and spent the bulk of our summer free time hanging out there. And I always went to camp for a week or two and I loved that. 

Here's the thing. I don't think I ever felt like I was missing out on anything. It was a different time and while some families took trips to places like Disney or the Grand Canyon, most of our friends and neighbors were just like us. They went to the shore for a week or a few days, or maybe the Poconos, or they went by car to visit extended family in the summer months. 

Summertime was unhurried, unscheduled, uncomplicated. 

Bare feet and sprinklers. 

Koolaid stands and made up games.  

Homemade ice cream and swinging as high as that swing would go.

Chasing fireflies after dark and neighborhood kick the can. 

No hands on a bicycle careening down a hill and impromptu games of front yard tag.

Four leaf clover hunts and watching the clouds float by. 

Dear Grandboys, 

I hope your summers are filled with lots of the same...

...with simple pleasures and plenty of room to dream. 

Love, 
Nana 
xoxo


6 comments:

  1. Yes, indeed! I think those of us who grew up without the internet, cellphones, and a million TV channels had a lot more fun, especially in the summer. Amen!!

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  2. Nice way to round off the challenge Joyce.

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  3. I wondered what happened when I didn't see you post the last two days. I hope all is well. I remember the same unhurried, unscheduled, uncomplicated summers when I was growing up. Those were the days!

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  4. That's mostly how I remember my summers too and have worked pretty hard to keep it that way for my boys (though we do take one big family vacation trip each year it's rarely during the summer).

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  5. I love this!! I grew up in much the same way. And I kept it that way for my girls. Summertime meant sleeping in, playing outside for hours on end, impromptu picnics in the backyard, sprinklers under the trampoline, sleepovers... such great memories.

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  6. Joyce,

    You stirred some distant memories from my childhood. Wouldn't it be grand to revisit those days again even if for only a short while? I'm thankful to have my memories to feel me with warmth and comfort. Simple pleasures are the best kind, aren't they? :)

    Zonk Looney Tunes A-Z Art Sketch

    Yosemite Sam Looney Tunes A-Z Art Sketch

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