The Last of Summer

 When I was a young lad growing up in Alexandria, Virginia, circa 1950 to 1962, we were out of school June, July, August, returning after Labor Day in September...  We basically had from Memorial Day to Labor Day as our summer vacation.  So, when August rolled around, we knew we had just one month left.

Every day in August had to count for something otherwise we had wasted a day...  so we did not want to go on vacations, and we did not want to go to any doctors, and we did not want to visit any relatives, or go on any day trips like to Hersey, Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately, my dad was in the Navy Reserves and had to attend two weeks of active duty in the summer and it usually took place in August, sometimes July.

Oftentimes, he would combine his two weeks with the Navy and take an additional 2 weeks off from his employer and we would be gone for an entire month.

Being a non-voting member of the family there was really nothing I do do about it other than enjoy myself on vacation for a month.  And, if I ever thought this meant I would miss 4 Sundays from going to church, I was dead wrong...  we attended church while we were on vacation...  the only thing I could miss was Sunday School and going out for ice cream after church.

It did not take many years for me to realize that if I wanted to play around with my neighbors in the summer that it had to be done during the months of June and July.

Unfortunately, before playing around with my friends, I had chores and those chores usually took me all morning...  not because they actually took that long but because I procrastinated because I had to do chores.  Smart move on my part...  right?

As I got older, I was allowed to cut the neighbor's grass to earn some spending money as well as grow vegetables that I would sell door-to-door.  I had tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, squash, and zucchini.  I sold most of it and typically only had to eat the tomatoes and cucumbers.

Now that I am retired, I can have any summer months that I want to have and go on vacation any time I want to including in the winter, if I am willing to drive 10-12 hours south.

With COVID it does not matter what my choices are...