Of Summers and Playdates

Remember when you were little?  How when you finished school summer stretched out before you like an open playing field.  Summer was the time of dreams.  You would be free from school, free to do whatever you wanted.  No one was going to stop you from having a great summer.

Then summer actually came and you spent the first month of it relishing.  You slept in as late as you wanted.  You went to the playground and mastered the monkey bars, nothing could hurt you.

All of the sudden it hit you: summer was actually really boring.  There was nothing to do.  Sure, in a few weeks you were going to camp, but that was only for a week.  Maybe you were going to go visit Grandma and Grandpa for the 4th of July, but that was just a weekend.  Before you knew it, you were counting down the days until school was going to start.

In the meantime, Mom made you start doing chores.  You went out for playdates with people that you would see every day during the school year.  You spent a lot of time with the children of your parent's friends (which was fine if they were nice).  For the most part you sat around at home and played by yourself.  You watched movies with your siblings and argued over what games to play.  If your mom was anything like mine you also did a worksheet of math and reading every day so that your brain didn't deflate.

Now the weird part, is that I'm in college now and I'm doing the same collection of stuff.  About once a week I go rock climbing with a friend or two from high school (playdate).  In a few weeks I'm going on a family vacation (4th of July at Grandmas, figuratively), but I'm only going the weekend because I'm taking a summer class at City College (worksheets).  My sister and I are watching our way through Buffy the Vampire Slayer (movies) and occasionally we go shopping (which sometimes leads to fights).  Last week I volunteered for my church's Vacation Bible School (camp).  And today, I went out to lunch with my mom, mom's friend and her daughter (parent's friends children).

Now granted, I'm actually pretty okay with this.  My summer so far is pretty awesome.  It's just fascinating how little has changed in my summers.  I have gotten to reconnect with friends and been able to do things for myself, and that's enough for me.