In the “good ol’ days,” we would get out of school the first week of June and didn’t go back until the day after Labor Day. Do you remember that? One had three solid months of vacation time, much to the raised eyebrows of many a mother and father.
Even Garrison Keillor talked about it in one of his earlier stories about summer, where he would lie on his bed in his room bored to tears (only days after school had let out) until his mother would come by and literally fling him out the door! (He then told a story about an ant he found whom he named “Jim.”)
No, it’s not because we are all growing older; you know the saying—the older we get the faster the days move. No, I think the worry about our children not retaining the knowledge they were given from August through late May/early June (depending on the number of snow days used/unused) is what it’s all about. I’m convinced that the idea of “year-round” school was developed because someone somewhere thought our children’s minds turned to jelly after about 3 or 4 weeks of summer.
I am an educator by trade (undergraduate degree in Secondary Ed-English and Speech) and I never gained appreciation for these short summers! I was always an advocate for “letting children be children while they are still children.” Outdoor play was the best thing for them while away from the rigors of school. My goodness, I was living proof about the argument about how soon we can forget things! One day after any exam, I probably had forgotten over half of what I had crammed into my brain! The stimulation away from school was good and healthy for me and all of my friends “back in the good ‘ol days!”
I used to love my summers. I played Little League, went on vacations with my family, and played with my friends in the neighborhood. I cut grass (usually just my own, and, on occasion, my grandfather’s yard. He paid me five whole dollars to do it!) and didn’t remember sleeping until noon like a lot of youths may do today. As I got older, I got jobs working at my high school cutting the athletic fields and later working at “Opryland U.S.A.” I worked one summer home from Tennessee Tech at “Cullum & Maxey” where you could purchase, rent, or repair your RV of just about any type. I worked as a clerk and knew absolutely nothing about RVs or how to fix them. I spent a lot of time in the back looking for parts that customers would come in and ask for. Most of my time that summer I spent asking either Mr. Cullum or Mr. Maxey where to find this or that (from nuts and bolts to side panels to Chinese lantern lights) because the warehouse was huge! I also helped, during one college summer, build the “log cabin” house my family lived in for a long time in Hendersonville, Tennessee. I have really fond memories of summer.
With one day a week for rest (Sabbath means “to cease, stop”), we need to have a summer day all throughout the year! If it was good enough for God, it should be good enough for us! In that time of Sabbath, my family always found time to be involved in worship, and later that afternoon travel around town to sit and rest while visiting the relatives. Very little work took place in those days, thanks to what we used to call ”blue laws” (ask your parents about that, oh ye of youthful age), but it was still good. We would always get home early enough to watch “Bonanza” (I loved Hoss Cartwright!) and “Disney’s Wonderful World of Color” on our very first color TV on Sunday nights. In those days, you had to get up off the couch to change the channels (In Nashville, we only had four to change to!).
So—whatever happened to summer? How we answer depends on how we celebrate life in each and every day, no matter what time of year it is! I love fall (which I hear is coming), but I truly appreciate summer. Take time to rest and relax, God designed it for you. He loves you and wants you to be healthy!
God loves you and so do I!
Pastor Jim