“Summertime, And the livin' is easy”
(George Gershwin)

My granddaughters live in Denver, Colorado.  They have year-round school there.  They say kids do better in school because they don’t have time to forget so much of the lessons from the previous year.  I suspect that their experience of summer will be far different than mine.

For many of us, when we were young, summer was the best time of the year.  As a child I can’t tell you how much I looked forward to summer vacation. Those twelve years (plus eight more with college and seminary) embedded a summertime rhythm deep into my soul.  I’ve found that every season has its unique rhythm that has imprinted us with its own stories and wisdom, but the rhythm of our youth and summer times are often a source of innocence, enjoyment, and strength.  We were no longer babies, we’d gone out into the world of school, we’d given nine months to “readin’, writin’, and ‘’rithmatic” and when summer rolled around we had a whole new appreciation of free time and play.  

We never moved, but my older brothers grew up when the land around us was farm land.  They started working on the farms with their friends at an early age.  By the time I came along the land had been turned into suburbs and a shopping mall.  Our experiences were different but each was shaped by the combination of a unique time of history, a time of life and a recurring time of year

Summertime was spent outdoors.  At first it was finding a best friend to be with to explore a world that was filled with new discoveries-like tadpoles, bird nests, painted turtles, and ant hills; creating forts or houses, climbing trees, living out imaginary adventures from sunup to sundown -on wagon trains, battlefields, little houses on the prairie, or seven seas pirate ships and picking up where you left off the next day;  dollhouses, sail boats, race cars, airplanes, and rocket-ships were built; on rainy days comic books were passed around; having enough kids in the neighborhood meant that a spontaneous game of baseball or starlight-moonlight could start-up, getting bicycles brought us to lakes, parks, community pools, swimming holes.  I got into scouting, so I had the opportunity to go to camp and to become a camp counselor, which had a huge impact on the direction of my life.  

Summer time memories are filled with great friends, some unforgettable people, some incredibly stupid stunts, and some great times.  I love to point out that all of that has gone into the mix of who we are.  Taking time to reminisce, to do a little digging in summer times past might uncover some long forgotten buried treasures.  The inner strength, joy and innocence of your youth is still part of you.  Reconnecting with it might just be what you need to handle the events of today.   Reminiscing out loud with some young people – including the feelings along with the story might just create new summertime treasures for both of your futures.

Central New York Forum meets every other month on the 2nd Thursday, 8:30 – 10:00am in the Community Room at LutheranCare, 108 Utica Road, Clinton, NY  13323.  

The next meeting is August 12, “Nurturing Spiritual Growth Through Spiritual Direction” presented by Rev. Karen Marshall, Pastor of Clinton United Methodist Church