I Want Summer Vacation

This is the first week that the kids are off of school for the summer. I spent the prior week whining that I want 3 months of vacation each summer. I even investigated earning a masters degree in teaching. I can’t figure out how to earn one without being unemployed for a period of time (so that’s not going to happen).

When I was a kid, summer meant hanging around with friends, riding bikes, two weeks at a Girl Scout sponsored art program, and reading books. I can handle that for 3 months or so. When I was a kid it drove me nuts, because I loved school. Even now, if I was a student, I could see passing on vacation. But I’m not a student (haven’t been for a long time), I’m just a drone in the office world who wants three months vacation during the summer.

My kids have a different summer than I did. They have things to go to like drama and creative writing camp at a local high school, sports programs at the grade school, one will go to Fencing camp, and the other is venturing off to an overnight camp for a week. Not only that, they are subjected to homework. We have worksheets to do (some from the school, but most from a mom who is trying to improve the grades of a child entering Jr. High). Even if I had to do worksheets, I still would like a summer vacation.

I would love to go to drama camps and sports programs. Even if I had to work ½ a day, just like I was doing worksheets, I’d be happy to pursue other interests in that free time while the sun shines brightly and the wind feels warm upon my skin. I never appreciated summer when I was a kid. I guess it is just another example of something being wasted upon youth.
So, I guess my summer vacation has to be crammed into my weekends. Last Saturday, we went to the Printers Row Book Fair, the Blues Fest and Millennium Park. My kids are finally old enough that we can enjoy these types of outings. Saturday was such a “Chicago summer day”. The only problem is that when you try to cram three months of summer into weekends only, is that it is tiring. I don’t remember being tired as a child. No matter how tiring it is, I appreciate my summer weekends. Now, only if I can somehow be employed in a field that I got three months vacation during the summer.