I’m listening to the sound of grass being mowed on a Saturday morning. That sound and its adjacent smell carries me back to childhood summers. My parents could not afford summer camps or elaborate vacations. Our trips typically consisted of five people piled like puppies in a tiny motel efficiency or sleeping on sofas and pallets in the homes of accommodating relatives. But I loved the freedom I felt each summer with its endless hours of unstructured time. My brothers and I spent most of our daylight hours at the Robinswood Recreation Park. I still remember how fortunate we felt to belong. We swam in 45 minute increments after which a whistle signaled adults were afforded swim time unencumbered by splashing, screaming children. There was a patio where I gazed longingly at older teens dancing. i wanted to be one of them, to be in love moving to music… The smell of grilling hamburgers wafted toward the pool area into the nostrils of starving, over exercised kids. Since our membership at this playground was already a stretch on the family budget, lunches from the grill were out of the question…

Nostalgia is an interesting concept.   People looking back fondly at a bygone time, even saying things like “life was simpler then”. To a certain degree that is true. Without the benefit of discretionary dollars or 500 channels on the television, we took to our bikes and the pool for recreation and entertainment. But from 12 to 17, our emotional lives were certainly not simple. Hurt feelings and hormones created havoc with our inner lives.   I’m much happier in my adult life than I was in my kid life but each summer the memories of freedom and unstructured fun come wafting back just like the smell of those hamburgers so many years ago.