Gone
Summer has come and gone. Where did the time go? While the rain kept us guessing, I had the craziest luck. My car was stolen; I took a lay off soon after but the kicker of it all has got to be breaking my collarbone while riding my bike home from a concert. Not exactly the luck I’m used to. They say bad things happen in threes so I’m hoping that this is all that is in store for me.
When I was a kid, summer used to mean jumping in the car the second school was over. We would call the cottage home for the next two to three months. This was MY world. Bonfires, bridge jumping, kick the can, boats, swimming, water skiing and the best friends anyone could ever ask for. In the city I was the shy kid. Up north I was fearless; seeking adventure and occasionally getting into a little trouble now and then.
Time didn’t exist. The days were endless. I wouldn’t know what day of the week it was. The only sense of time that I had was in knowing if it was July or August. I always dreaded the Labour Day weekend. It meant that long drive back and walking into a home that felt familiar but didn’t feel like it was your own. I know I was lucky. I got to enjoy this until I was 19. Being the eldest my younger brothers didn’t get as long as I did. When I turned 20 it was my job that held me to the city. I would still escape every chance I had but by then things had changed. Friends lost touch or stopped coming up all together. In time I started venturing downtown and got into the bar scene. Once again I was seeking adventure and occasionally getting into a little vodka induced trouble now and again. I would still make it up to the cottage but by now I was bringing my friends up for a weekend.
Now as a parent I want to provide the same things I had as a child for our kids. But things are so different than thirty years ago. Who can afford a home in the city and also a cottage? If you have the finances for the two properties then odds are that you cannot afford to take the time off to spend it with your kids. We would even have to pay for daycare because we couldn’t possibly lose our placements once school started.
I know our kids are not lacking in any way. They are loved and we give them lots of opportunities to enjoy plenty of experiences in the city. Their friend network revolves around daycare and I know they are happy. I see it in their faces everyday.
6 Singing the blues:
I knew that it was September 14th but for some reason it didn't register that it is MID September already...I'm really not ready for summer to end though.
My parents recently sold our family cottage and it hurts my soul that my kids won't get to hang out there.
Crap. Is it really MID September??
I have always. Always! dreamt of having and giving that kind of a magical time.
Our children certainly do not lack, as do yours. But canadian cottage summers? Paradise.
You broke your collarbone? Goof.
Misterpie has always had cottage dreams, from long before I met him. Just exactly what you are talking about - ans since he's a teacher, he could totally go and spend at least a good solid chunk of summer up north with our kids when the time comes. It will be a few years, though, before he gets a cottage built and the Bun is old enough to really enjoy it. (Because yeah, affording one already built? Too much. We bought land instead to start working towards his dream. Some day we can take a passel of blogger babies up there!)
oh no I hope your neck is healing. what a bummer.
No wonder you've been so quiet.
I am trying to convince my husband to let me spend summers up north but since, as you say, no one can afford that we have no one to hang out with anyway!
What a nice post. I never had a cottage, but I long for one. I'll have to settle for the backyard, a beer or two, and just as many mosquitos.
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