Dear Editor,
I have had occasion to reflect as I see all the “back to school” specials and reminders the past several weeks and I find myself wondering – where did the summer go! I understand the reasoning behind the extended school year and how the holiday vacation times are utilized to provide time away for students and families. However, I am reminiscing as well about my long childhood summers in Noblesville and the experience of my own children growing up here.
Some vivid memories of my elementary childhood summers:
Family picnics at Forest Park, long afternoons at the Forest Park pool, family vacations with no electronics, walking and riding my bike around my neighborhood, camping in the backyard with friends, hiking to the “gravel pit” with friends Nancy and Tim, enjoying Fourth of July fireworks with everyone gathered at the Forest Park golf course on the side of the hill, sitting on the front porch with lemonade and cookies in the evening, catching fireflies in jars on hot summer nights, sitting in front of a fan (no A/C until I was twelve!) making funny noises, visiting my Grandma in North Carolina and picking berries, enjoying the ABC Drive In Theater with family, reading lots of library books, and making “clover chains” in the front yard. Who has clover in their yard these days? No wonder the bees are suffering so much . . .
Memories of teenage summers:
Swimming every day at Forest Park, from noon until evening many days. The girls would be gathered with their towels in one area, boys in another and lots of discussion (!) Riding my bike sometimes miles to visit friends, goofing off and talking about boys mostly while reading the “teenage” magazines that were so popular (remember ‘Tiger Beat’) and looking forward to Drivers’ Education class and planning for that important big step in transportation. Getting my hair frosted and almost tweezing my eyebrows off my face – parents weren’t too happy about that! Double-dating at the ABC Drive In – the only way I was allowed to go! Meeting friends at Ramsey’s Drive In Restaurant and the Jim Dandy where my favorite drink was a marshmallow Coke!
Growing up in small town Noblesville was a wonderful experience for which I will always be grateful. Those long summers that began the first week of June and ended after Labor Day are times I will treasure throughout my life. I hope that children growing up in Noblesville today will have some “down time” during the long summer days that are with us such a short time. Sleeping in, playing, reading, traveling with family . . . making memories of summer which will make them smile when they, too, are in their late sixties, as I am. I think I will go out right now and see if I can find some clover in my yard . . .
Sharon McMahon
Noblesville