Suddenly, This Summer

When I think back on my childhood summers, particularly those during my elementary school years, I think about homemade popsicles, family picnics at dusk in one of the local parks, eating hot dogs and playing checkers with my dad; I think about the uniquely bright and piercing sun of Southern California, the joy of my grandparents’ annual visit from New York, occasional visits to my friends’ houses to play (these were the dark ages, before we had “playdates”) and visits to the library before coming home to lay on my bed and read for hours. But if I close my eyes and try to find the one thing that meant summer to me as a kid, it would have to be running errands with my mom.

My mother was in school then, on her way to a bachelors degree and then a masters in education and then a teaching career. She always had the summers off. So while lots of kids we knew went to local or sleep-away camps, my older brother and I went to the laundromat, and the butcher and the hardware store. And, if it was a really good day, we’d walk to the Thrifty’s drug store, where they sold their own ice cream, and we could get a cone for only 10 cents (yes, I’m that old) and later 25 cents and walk around in the fragrant, cool air and not mind the time it took for my mother to compare prices on, well, everything she needed. I loved summer, and this was summer.

So here I am, all grown up, with two girls of my own, the older of whom just finished kindergarten. This is her first elementary school summer. Friends and fellow parents keep asking me what our plans are for her this July and August. Will she go to day camp? And for how many weeks? What on earth are we going to do to keep everyone sane and out of each other’s hair? How will we fill the long summer days?

I know a few parents who are dreading the start of summer, but, the truth is, I feel extremely fortunate to be able to have the summer with both of my daughters at home. Kindergarten went by almost impossibly fast, and I know time isn’t about to slow down from here on out. I know I’m lucky that I can balance my writing life with being a full-time mom, and I know we’re lucky because my husband has an easier schedule in the summertime and the girls and I will be over the moon to have him home more. We count our blessings.

So my daughter will go to camp every morning for one week, because it’s ballet camp and she loves ballet more than any other activity. And we will visit my in-laws up in New England and my parents will come out from Los Angeles, and the rest of the summer, well, we’ll run errands and go to the library, and go on picnics and enjoy each other’s company. 

We’ll be unscheduled, that elusive and miraculous thing.

In my opinion, my daughters couldn’t spend their summer in a more amazing place than New York City and in a more perfect neighborhood than Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. As she did for her spring break, my older daughter is already making a list of the many things she wants to do this summer, from adventures to Coney Island and the Brooklyn Museum (she loves the Egyptian Wing), to smaller pleasures, like mini-muffins from and the Summer Reading Program at the . And of course ! And of course Pier 6 and walks to Red Hook and the Height’s Promenade and running through the sprinklers at just about any of the many . My husband can’t wait to take our older daughter to see and I can’t wait for us all to check out the new Jane’s Carousel at the Empire-Fulton Ferry Park in Dumbo. And we haven’t even left Brooklyn yet… 

My younger daughter is only two, and so less invested in where she spends her days, but as long as her big sister is around (oh how she pines for her sister when her sister is at school) she’s very happy. And she certainly wouldn’t mind if the ice cream truck comes around, wherever we are.

With our summer to-do list growing, all of a sudden this summer feels kind of short. I know it won’t be too long before I say goodbye to my first grader on her first day of school and my younger daughter and I will have to run our errands without her. And even if this means that there will be that many fewer times I’ll have to say, “Don’t touch that,” or “You don’t need to run,” or “Please stay where I can see you,” it still won’t be nearly as much fun without her sweet and brilliant company.

Will we drive each other crazy? Will I find myself wishing I’d sent her to camp or will my daughter start whining that she’s bored and that she wishes she was at camp? I don’t know, but I can’t imagine it. The last day of school is today, and my admittedly rosy idea of what summer will hold has yet to begin its reality. But I am beyond excited to give it a try.

Time isn’t as endless as it was when I was a kid, which is all the more reason to grab as much as I can with my own kids one errand — and one ice cream cone — at a time.