Summer is here. Not technically, or at least not according to the calendar. But it’s here. It will hit triple digits by the weekend. People around the neighborhood are getting their campers and RVs out, cleaning them up, airing them out. I get excited for them. I remember summer vacation from school, being so ready for anything and everything. We always took a trip, usually to Florida. We drove. It was great fun. Wonderful memories of my family at the beach, in the ocean, freezing in the car because my dad had the air conditioning up real high so as not to fall asleep, and just all being together.
Summer also used to mean bonfires. We’d have friends over every weekend, collect the trimmings from a recently fallen down tree, and sit out eating, drinking and talking all night over the fire. Most of these would be impromptu and informal, others would be all out shin-digs. We’d utilize our contraband road signs with flashing lights to mark the path to the bonfire pit behind the barns, we’d shake up enough bullfrogs to fill a five gallon orange plastic igloo cooler, and we’d have hot dogs, chips, and smores.
Summer vacation now, or have been for the last couple of years are still an event, just not as highly anticipated or a cherished one. Since my family is broken up in two parts of the country our summer trip is a 1800 mile trek back home. It’s fun in a crazy way. We pack my parents, three dogs, and I in a vehicle and shove that full of suitcases and gifts (usually just thing that we’ve crafted or have collected throughout the year that’s been too big to mail) and drive out into middle America. The homecoming is always fun but stressful and hectic. Then we all just fall right back into our old swing of things, typical family time, as if half of us don’t live in the other part of the country and we only see each other once a year. It’s reassuring and makes me feel grounded, like it’s where I belong more than anywhere else, with my family. We fight and bicker and bitch, laugh and cry and smile, we are all comfortable and ourselves.
This summer will probably be different. With the recent events that have pushed my family into making some complicated decisions our trip home might be one of necessity instead of leisure. However it turns out to be, it will still be a great family memory of another summer vacation.
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