2018
The boys just
finished school for the year and are now embracing summer vacation before they
go off to camp. TJ can enjoy sleeping in and Grant gets a little extra time on
the iPad in the morning. The simple pleasures of summer vacation.
1978-ish
I remember
grade school and those last few days of the school year. Pine Tree Elementary sat on a hill on Pine
Tree Road, on the southwest side of Monroe. At the time it served K-6th
grade. It was only a few miles from our house.
The school year in New York ran after Labor Day and through mid-June. By
the time the year ended the weather was definitely warming up. This meant that the teachers would all open
the windows in the classrooms and a breeze would blow through the classes, into
the halls, and circulate throughout the building. It seemed to bring the
prospects of the summer with it.
As we, the
school children, began to clean up our desks and rooms the school would slowly
lose its character that was created from art projects, music, and visual aids. At some point there must be a decision that
the teachers have done all they should do for the year and it is time to wrap
things up. Learning came to a halt and
Field Day and playing outside seemed to be the focus of everyone’s attention –
including the teachers.
Its nice to
recall that nostalgia. I relived it as the boys prepared for the end of the
year.
2018
TJ – not one to
be confined with the rigor of a classroom environment – could not wait until
the last day of school. As the end of
his elementary school years came to an end he practiced for the school musical.
His class performed, “We’re All In This Together”, from High School Musical and
TJ even had a solo. He finished is EOGs and mentally checked out of class.
Grant was a
different story. I happened to get off of work early that day and just happened
to meet the bus at their bus stop. Grant
stepped off the bus clearly and visibly upset.
They were surprised to see me and I rolled down the window to find out
what was wrong. Maybe TJ was teasing
him, maybe he was picked on, on the bus.
No, Grant was crying because school was over and he wasn’t going to see
his friends or his teacher until August.
I opened the
door and he jumped in and hugged him.
1980-ish
I remember
hanging out with my friends, Pat Creegan, Mike Hanham, and my brother
Andy. Other kids would enter our little
gang; Anthony Rizzi, Scott Goldstein, the Scumaci brothers – but the four of
lived so close to one another we hung out the most. Our troupe reminds me of the characters from
“Stand By Me” – where everyone seemed to have a role to play. We would fight but always somehow worked out
our differences. In the days before the internet we would have in depth conversations about Star Wars and
baseball cards. Boyhood was awesome for us. There were no girls. Ever.
Our summers
included years before video games. We played stick ball, kick ball, and army.
We went on long treks in the woods, climbed trees, built dams in the stream,
and made forts. We built things, destroyed things, and benignly terrorized the
neighborhood with rambunctious play.
We spent hours
upon hours in our pool. We would make
whirlpools by going around and around in circles until we made a current strong
enough that it was near impossible to swim against if you tried to change
direction. Cannon Balls, Marco Polo, and
Chicken Fights ruled. We would typically
empty about a quarter of the water in a week.
2018
It’s only been
a week. Our boys hang out with their friends Evan, Austin, and occasionally
Owen and a few others. Their days
consist of fishing, playing basketball, Nerf gun wars, video games, disappearing
on their bikes and going to the pool. Somewhere, they are benignly terrorizing
the neighborhood. Middle School
and Second Grade are a distant thought.
In
forty years the concept of buddies on summer vacation hasn’t changed much.
Thank God.
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