what i won’t give to have the things that mean the most not to mean the things i miss

So this is the week for graduation here in the northeast part of the state. Both White and Habersham counties are graduating their seniors this weekend. Being in an office full of mothers and having one senior on staff, it has been quite a week. There have been field trips to Stone Mountain, end of school parties (apparently those are still allowed up here), honors days, eat lunch with the kids day and field days all week. Whenever I go to look for someone I ask, “Where’d she go?” The answer is “To the (such in such) school for (whatever major event) her child is doing.” Since when do school kids get out in the middle of May? And what happens to them after that? I mean there are no local pools or real parks around here. At least there are no real neighborhoods. I hear about acting camp and grandma’s house, but really is that meant to last all summer long? All the way until the last week of August? Or maybe since the kids are getting out in May they will return in July. Mom says that year round school is not that far off.

I can remember thinking that summer would never get here and getting out of school on June 10. That is a whole month after this crew is graduating. We had parties and extended recess, walks to the lake and picnics for like the whole last week of school while the teachers scrambled to get all of their work done to send us home. You could feel summer before it ever hit you. I was a patrol in sixth grade and would hate having to patrol the old hall where the littlest kids were because the air conditioner didn’t work well. You could feel an immediate flow of cool air when you crossed the ramp into the third grade/ library hall was. I was so proud to be able to have that orange plastic stripe with a silver badge on it. Memorial Day always pushed the summer feeling too, because the pool would open and that water was so cold. We would begin swim practice after school until school let out. Then practice would begin at 8 for the little ‘uns and 9 for the big ‘uns and then I wouldn’t leave until the phone call at six in the evening from mom saying to come home for dinner. We would run all over Avondale on our bikes. We’d go to Nathan’s for lunch and Emily’s for snacks. We’d go to the Pizza Café if we could find a parent to come get us and take us because we weren’t allowed to go by ourselves. We were old enough to be free but not too old that we knew to take for granted that freedom. Days were filled with corner tag and thunderstorms, wondering if there was any money in my swim bag for candy from the concession stand, walks to the park to settle down and do some real playing and then back to the pool for more races, games and silliness to the nth degree. The life guards were our heroes and babysat us if we acted our age and got upset. They mended our broken hearts, our cut fingers and our fear of thunder. We stood at the edge of the pool waiting for the sound of free swim for the whole ten minutes of adult swim. They held the whistle to our happiness.