The summer days I leave behind...Memoir Monday #52
Summer means summer holiday. I wake up late in the morning, have no rush to go to school, have a sibling reunion at home, and spend a long but exciting afternoon.
If I close my eyes, I can still see clearly my summer when I was a pre-teen.
Both of my parents were working, during the summer holidays they used to leave the house as usual with breakfast on the dining table covered. My brother and sisters, along with me, usually wake up late, then have late breakfast, watch TV for a while, and do some homework if there's holiday homework.
The excitement started after lunch. We lived close to our aunt's and uncle's house, so that means we had many cousins to play with.
At around 3 pm we all gathered up at a nearby field, with our cycles, cricket bats, and balls in our hands. Then the leader of the group (our elder cousin) decides what sport we are going to play for the day. We had three groups according to age. So if one group excludes us from any sport, we join the other.
We used to have small changes but not always. They were mostly there to buy ice creams and cotton candies. If we don't have changes, we can exchange the food with glass bottles or tin containers. Yes, exchange was a thing back then.
Sometimes it would be till sunset that we would be on the field, on someone's house, or roam around the streets. The neighborhood was very safe, adults trusted us and others as well. We freely go to other houses, enjoy watching TV there, have some snacks, play board games, etc
We had all the fun on the outside as both of my parents used to be at their workplace. But they used to take us on holidays, usually to one of my aunts' houses in the village. Back then, going on a tourist's spot or on a hike as a family was not a norm.
My aunt's house was another excitement for us. Sometimes we were the only family that visited her, sometimes my other cousin's family would join. It used to be a big get-together. I remember, the river they had beside their house, the food we ate during the summer. More specifically, the summer fruits like mangos, watermelon, lychee were the attraction of summer.
The evening was more calm, about spending time with family. We used to sit with our father and he helped us with our academic studies. He used to talk about so many things during that time.
There were only a few challenges on our TV back then. Sometimes we watched TV, sometimes we were too tired and finished our dinner early and went to bed before 9 pm.
Summer days were exciting, even when we stayed home and our playmates were on a family tour, we used to have fun at home. Those days were different.
Roaming around the streets, going to others' houses, playing on the field, buying some snacks and ice cream, being close to nature, playing hide and seek, watching TV, observing the cloud, eating summer fruit...all these are my precious memories about summer.
Those days are gone...
Thanks for reading.
Your @peacefulsoul
The last paragraph hits me; exactly how we also spent our summers (not with the ice cream part though coz we lived in the countryside, it was not common yet that time.) I guess that's why our summers are more memorable coz we get to do stuff outside, carefree, and unbothered by gadgets. I sometimes wish I could go back to those moments when the world was not complicated yet.
When 'Unsplash' search showed me the result, the photo hit me too with memories. My childhood was also like that, we used to be friends with all of the kids from the neighborhood, no matter what their financial class was.
I too wish I could go back, live the carefree life even for one last time.