Summer is here in full swing and with the warm weather brings warm memories of my childhood.  The mere sound of a cricket chirping as I sit out in my backyard takes me back in time to old British homes on remote army bases where my childhood was spent.  The stone façade, the crumbly white washed walls with a gecko stuck high in the corner, vibrant bougainvillea draping the front porch and trimmed hedges are etched in my mind.  The cool night time breeze rustling the branches and watching the tresses of the old banyan tree dance in the shadows of the street lamp would make for a perfect backdrop for my grandfather’s stories especially the ones with ghosts. I would sit there listening to him mesmerized and petrified, but unable to leave. Sleeping on the tarp watching the lightning bugs was a favorite pastime too.  Summers were happy..

I know I have plenty of images from my childhood as vivid and vibrant as if they happened yesterday. A mere smell of a certain spice brings a flood of warmth from my mother’s kitchen that envelops me into this happiness or just listening to old songs make me nostalgic for a time well spent.  My most cherished memories are embedded in the ritual of eating something special for breakfast every Sunday morning..or just the thought of mango milkshake brings memories of hours of swimming and the shake waiting for me the moment I got home hungry. No other elixir in the world could match the simple lemonade in my hand that my mother would stir up during summer evenings. Summers were simple with time well spent running around with friends, falling off the bikes, skinned knees, playing in each other’s houses, cards and scrabble under the candle light as the lights were out for more hours than they were in.  Summers were made of cranky old fans that struggled to blow air and I would have my face so close to them that I would risk getting my nose chopped off. Summers were made of mosquito nets my father insisted on putting up every night even though I hated them.  The only way I slept under them was by imagining myself to be a princess and sleeping under a canopy.  The simplicity of a wholesome childhood..

As I moved away from my environment and started my life in another country, I continue holding on to my past and cherish it.  It was an experience I felt was needed and was important for my kids as they were being raised in a different environment than me. Every parent I knew told me to enjoy the kids as they would grow up fast and boy they did! It seems like a blur as I was just changing diapers on two little ones and pushing the double stroller and now they are both in college. The daily grind of trying to maintain work-life balance made me want to spend every single moment I could with them. That’s how you make memories right..and I wanted my children to make memories from our daily rituals just like I had, however mundane they might be.             

There is no other word but mundane comes to mind when your life is packed with a 45 minutes bear of a commute, a workaholic husband, two boys, one hyper dog and one bossy cat and then you can add exciting stuff like baseball and lacrosse practices, and games, and groceries, cooking meals and doing dishes, and of course homework and book reports.  Whoever came up with diorama projects for second graders never had kids for sure because you can add a rushed trip to Michael’s Craft Store 5 minutes before closing time to all the exciting daily activities. In my career as a parent, we have also made a frantic 11.30pm trip to Kinkos for a project printout a particular teenager forgot to work on until the night before it was due. It is the time when you have a choice to drive the child who is frantic to get the printout or play the tough love card and let him suffer the aftermath of his procrastination.  All in the name of memories that you can talk about and laugh twenty years later I guess. 

Summers were about summer camps and keeping the boys busy with activities and planning play dates when they were young. They have been always been about camping out in the open, pitching tents, and making s’mores. They are about hiking and swimming and grilling burgers. So even though there haven’t been as many skinned knees thanks to the knee pads, there are plenty of memories of ER visits for rollerblading accidents, skateboarding mishaps and lacrosse injuries. Every fracture and concussion added a new crop of grey hair to my head and a truckload of intense memories, while the boys were more excited about choosing the color for the cast.  

So here is hoping that both my boys individually have enough memories that will get triggered by the sights, and sounds to carry forward as they step into adult life.  Here is hoping that they recognize the smell of summer..