What I Did Over Summer Vacation (Remembered)

The moment children in Portsmouth have been waiting for has finally arrived. Summer vacation!

I can remember as a child being so excited for summer vacation. I look back on the last day of the school year when I was a kid and I think I practically jumped out of my skin with joy as we boarded the bus for the last time until September. 

The last day of school was so important I feel like I should capitalize the letters like an official holiday! It was always a half day and though, I don’t know for sure, I can guess it was because it was hard to contain the thrumming energy of 30 kids knowing they were hours from two and a half months of freedom. 

Of course, it only took until mid-July of having no obligations and I was praying for September.   

When I was in school I yearned for summer and, when summer vacation was finally here, I couldn't wait to get back to school! I loved school and once the shiny newness of summer break wore off, my poor parents were met with an endless barrage of “I’m bored!”  

I’ve always done well with a schedule and I preferred to be indoors with a book or some other arty-crafty project. My poor mother practically had to pay me to go outside and play.

When I was a kid, keeping busy was your responsibility, not your parents-or video games.' We didn’t have video games to keep us entertained. Well okay, our neighbors had an Atari and, when I was a little older, we got a Sega Master System with games like Safari Hunt and Hang On, but we weren’t allowed to play it very often. 

In a time before “play dates” and the days of keeping your child’s schedule as busy as your own, there were no real summer activities other than the weekly summer camps and swimming lessons. 

I’m sure there must have some full summer camps, but darned if I ever knew where they were. When I was about 11 or 12, there was the PAY Program Day Camp at Elmhurst School, but it was a morning camp that ran until about noon and each session was only a couple of weeks. 

Sure, many families went on vacations and went to the beach on a daily basis. But for the most part, we fended for ourselves. 

We rode bikes around the block and played catch. Once, when a friend and I were really bored, we found ourselves making mud pies in a Frisbee and yelling, “tum-ta-tum-tum-tuuuums!” (like the old commercial) and splatting them on the ground.  (Hey, this was the early 1980s and kids weren’t as savvy then as they are now.)

To me, one of the few things that made summer vacation bearable was the ice cream man! 

It was a magical thing to be playing outside and hear the ting-a-ling music of the ice cream man’s truck. From under rocks and the inside of garbage cans,  kids I didn’t even know came running from everywhere and converged on the street like frozen treat junkies waiting for a fix. 

It was like a mob scene; bigger kids shoving little kids out of the way, hysterical kids whose parents wouldn’t buying them ice cream, cars tipped over and on fire (just kidding) and me standing there trying to decide between something new and the old favorite. Usually the old favorite won out (mint chocolate chip, thank you). 

As each summer break drew to a close, some would glumly start checking off the days until school started again. I did this with excitement knowing that soon I’d be back in class with the added bonus of new school clothes.

But you can bet your Trapper Keeper that come October, I was once again ready for summer vacation!