Schedule Some Summer Fun

I went to school in the “write a theme” era. I liked to write so that didn’t bother me. Except the first week of every school year.

Every year, it was always the same. That dreaded command from the teacher: “Write a theme about how you spent your summer vacation.”

Back in the Day

You see, my parents worked hard just to make ends meet. There was nothing in the family budget for vacations of any sort. My summers were always spent working in the garden at the farm. Our garden was humongous because it provided food for the entire year.

In the spring, we kids helped plant the garden. Then came the weekends which we spent attacking the weeds with the sharp blade of a hoe. When school was out, every day was spent at the garden, keeping the weeds away from the plants, picking the vegetables which always seemed to need harvesting all at once. Purple hull peas, snap beans, speckled butter beans, lima beans, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, bell peppers, hot peppers, tomatoes, corn, eggplant, and other less common veggies.

Demanding Garden

Of course, everything that was picked had to be: washed, shelled or cut up, then cooked for meals with the surplus canned and/or frozen. The days were endless, and so was the work. All these years later, just writing about it makes me remember how exhausted I was at the end of each day.

There may have been hot fun in the summertime somewhere in the world, but it wasn’t in the rural area where I grew up. A theme about how I spent my summer? Why not just copy the paper I wrote the year before or the year before that?

Imagination Training Camp

The good thing is that working those endless days allowed my imagination free rein. When you’re moving from squash plant to squash plant, picking the vegetables that seemed to grow larger before your very eyes, there was nothing to do but think. That was when I started making up stories in my head and letting them play like a movie.

Years Pass; Summer Becomes More Fun

My summers did get better as I grew up. There were summers when I traveled to other countries like the Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Italy, and France. Perhaps the lack of vacations when I was growing up prompted my love of travel.

This summer, the only traveling I'm doing is back and forth to my daughter's house. She's better after 2 back to back surgeries, but now goes to physical therapy 3 times a week. Although I've had to put a lot of my activities on hold, it's nice to spend time with her on a daily basis. We've got some summer fun scheduled for later in the year.

Summer Reading Fun
Remember to take time for some reading fun too. May I suggest the first book in my Texas series?

The Trouble With Love is a funny and sexy romance about a rule-following small town deputy and a rule-breaking federal agent with a personal agenda.

You can find it on Amazon Kindle , iBooks, Kobo, Nook, and Smashwords. If you prefer audio, The Trouble With Love is available on Audible.

Takeaway Truth

In Texas, summer fun--and heat--extends to October so I've got plenty of time for fun in the sun. Wishing you lots of summer fun.