Unofficial start of summer…
Then followed that beautiful season... Summer....
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
To meteorologists, summer begins on June 1st and extends through August 31st because those are the hot summer months. To astronomers, summer begins with the summer solstice when one of the Earth’s poles has its maximum tilt towards the sun in the third week of June. For many school-aged children, summer begins the first day after the school year ends. For myself and many others in America, though, summer starts when Memorial Day weekend arrives.
As a child and young adult, Memorial Day weekend meant not only honoring those soldiers who had given their lives in service of country, but also that summer was upon us. My Dad almost always planned a camp trip to a national or state park that weekend where we would hike, swim, cook meals at camp, and attend campfire programs. Talk was about upcoming road and camp trips, possible family reunions, and weekend outings to local sights. Then there was the weighty discussion as to where summer visitors might like to sightsee.
When my husband and I were raising a family, we developed a tradition of a Memorial Day outing to a local lake which we continued for twenty plus years! On that day, we would splurge on deli style sandwiches and fun summer foods that would be carried in backpacks up the trail to a lovely little lake, stopping along the way to take a side trail to look at a waterfall. Just before we got to the lake, we would stop at a wooden bridge crossing a creek where we would play “Pooh sticks”, seeing whose stick could come out from under the bridge first.
At the lake, our sons would catch garter snakes, tadpoles, or frogs…or sometimes just play at the water’s edge, skipping stones or wading into the water. Sometimes my husband would fish and, on rare occasions, I would take a quick dip in the chilly water. We would ooh and ahh and share a moment when the jets flew over to commemorate Memorial Day. At some point, we would eat our simple picnic lunch, then work our way around the lake on a pretty trail. Of course, we would stop at various points to look at interesting plants, mushrooms, or natural wonders which would often spark comments on changes from previous years.
If it sounds like a perfect way to enjoy the unofficial start of summer, it was! Oh, there was a time or two that we got chased out by an afternoon thunderstorm downpour. There were days when it was a little hot or the mosquitoes were so thick that we left earlier than usual. Whether we stayed the full day or part of the day, though, we would go home happy and tired, often watching a family movie to end the day.
Do you have a special tradition to kick off the start of summer? It’s never too late to start one! Whether it’s an outdoor outing, a family trip out for movie and ice cream, or a family reunion, there are so many options to mark the change of seasons and celebrate the joys of summer!
