The soft patter of the rain on our deck and the warm air floating in through the sliding glass door this morning reminded me of rainy days on summer vacation when I was a kid. As long as there weren't too many of them, it was always fun to find a way to occupy ourselves indoors.
A forced break from the sunshine and pool allowed us to listen to records and play spoons and pinochle, drink sweaty glasses of iced tea with lemonade, and read books out on the covered side porch. Sometimes the 4 O'Clock Movie would capture our attention and we would lose ourselves in some old black and white B movie, or else spend hours at the dining room table working on a jigsaw puzzle.
After dinner, if the rain had stopped, we ran around barefoot in the wet grass catching fireflies and putting them in a peanut butter jar with holes punched in the lid. The rule was that we had to let them go at the end of the evening, so we left the open jar on the back porch when we went inside to watch summer replacement variety shows before bed.
It seems like back then we slept soundly every night and woke up every day rested and ready for whatever the day might bring, rain or shine.
I think Sarah Dessen captured our lives perfectly in her novel Along for the Ride: "In the summer, the days were long, stretching into each other. Out of school, everything was on pause and yet happening at the same time, this collection of weeks when anything was possible."
Life Lesson: Summer is almost here!
A forced break from the sunshine and pool allowed us to listen to records and play spoons and pinochle, drink sweaty glasses of iced tea with lemonade, and read books out on the covered side porch. Sometimes the 4 O'Clock Movie would capture our attention and we would lose ourselves in some old black and white B movie, or else spend hours at the dining room table working on a jigsaw puzzle.
After dinner, if the rain had stopped, we ran around barefoot in the wet grass catching fireflies and putting them in a peanut butter jar with holes punched in the lid. The rule was that we had to let them go at the end of the evening, so we left the open jar on the back porch when we went inside to watch summer replacement variety shows before bed.
It seems like back then we slept soundly every night and woke up every day rested and ready for whatever the day might bring, rain or shine.
I think Sarah Dessen captured our lives perfectly in her novel Along for the Ride: "In the summer, the days were long, stretching into each other. Out of school, everything was on pause and yet happening at the same time, this collection of weeks when anything was possible."
Life Lesson: Summer is almost here!
I feel your "sweaty glasses of ice tea" and bare feet in the wet grass. Your memories pull me back to childhood summers, too!
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