The Summer Feels

Ever since I was a kid I always felt summer was different. There’s a certain expectation and feeling of freedom that comes with the summer months. Part of this must be related to school being out but I don’t think that’s the only reason.

To this day, long past “kid summer” there’s still a summer feel to June, July, and August – and I don’t just mean the feeling of a sweaty shirt stuck to my back. Although that’s true too.

However, I’ve come to realize that even though I can still get a taste of that feeling it had a lot more to do with expectations than reality. Certainly the old trope of the kid who has grand plans for summer only to find out all his friends are moving or going to camp, or he has to get a job, or some other unanticipated reality of life gets in the way is well known.

As we approach the first day of public school I’m reminded of how summer always seems to come to a close much sooner than it seemed like it could in May. How is it that the summer feels can go to the end of summer so fast? Well, channeling my inner child, it goes like this.

Mid May – The anticipation. Summer plans, vacations, and the limitless fun that’s coming casts a glow over everything. While a kid may or may not have some great experiences in the summer, it’s unlikely any of them live up to the expectations he thought up while watching the clock on the last day of school.

Late May – Schools out for the summer! And Alice Cooper got it right as far as the kids are concerned, it might as well be school’s out forever. Those first few days of liberation amp up the expectations for the rest of the summer.

June – The reality check. Things aren’t going as planned. You console yourself with the idea that summer hasn’t really begun in earnest and it’s going to get better. But those castles in the sky you built in May sure seem to have floated away.

July 4 – Now this is summer! Swimming, ice cream, hot dogs, parties, fireworks. Woo-hoo!

July 5 – Summer is over. August is just around the corner. You’ve wasted the whole summer and haven’t done half the things you planned.

Late July – The dog days of summer. It’s hot and you’re caught between your dissatisfaction about how things are going and your lack of enthusiasm for getting back into the routine of the school year. Sometimes you convince yourself that you actually miss being in school.

Late July/Early August – School supplies advertisements – Nooooo! What did we do to make them hate us so much you think on behalf of all school children. It takes away what’s left of summer seeing all those pencils and notebooks and artificially cheerful children wearing backpacks.

Early August – The last taste of summer. Unlooked for help is always the most welcome, and the unlooked for joys of summer are the same. It sneaks up on you in the form of an end of summer pool party that’s just great, or a family vacation where things go better than you thought possible, or a meteor shower that blows you away. Whatever it is it will define that summer for a long time.

Mid/Late August – The first day of school. You look back longingly at the summer. You regret what you didn’t do when you could have but also smile thinking about the highlights. But most of all you think about how next year, next summer, that one is going to be the best.