Mid-July—Summer is in very full swing!!! 

Every season evokes memories. As we recall, share, and embellish those memories, they actually change (brain science fun fact). Here’s another interesting characteristic of human memory. When we recall a memory and all its details, we are generating real sensory experiences in our bodies NOW from those thoughts! 

Fun, Summer Memories

So, let’s create some fun and experience some happiness, excitement, and joy today. Let’s conjure up some fun memories—those that evoke laughter and build resiliency—from our summer childhood. 

Pair/Share Activity

  1. Pick a few questions below, intended to be answered from your preadolescent summer memories and have a “Pair/Share” with someone in your life you’d like to create some happiness with or for.
  2. Simply ask the question of your Pair and listen with your full attention to the answer. Smiling, laughing, and feelings of joy are expected.
  3. Then Share your answers to the same questions with your Pair.

Preadolescent Summer Memory Questions

  1. What do you remember doing, as a child in summer, that was fun?
  2. What do you remember eating that felt summer special?
  3. Who was part of summer more than other times?
  4. What activities felt unique to summer and you remember them fondly?
  5. Any special fun memories from your childhood summer wardrobe?
  6. Recall at least one summer trip from that era. What makes you laugh when you recall it?
  7. What about your childhood summer is no longer part of your world, less because you grew up and more because the world changed?

Multiple Rounds and Bonus Question

Make it fun! Share with several people. Mix up the combination of questions. Create your own questions. Enjoy the feelings you are creating for yourself! Make room for laughing at yourself. As a bonus, share an experience that you remember with some pain but find a new way to tell it, find a new perspective that dissipates the old pain and builds resiliency. 

My Childhood Summer Memories to Spark Your Thinking

  1. What do you remember doing, as a child in summer, that was fun?
    • Swimming in the lake. We rarely ever swam in pools, so my narratives were all about why natural water is “better.”
  2. What do you remember eating that felt summer special?
    • Watermelon, strawberries, garden-grown veggies, especially tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, okra, and green bean. These veggies were part of most every summer evening meal!
  3. Who was part of summer more than other times?
    • Neighbors—so much more time to play in their yard, our yard, the nearby forest. Going indoors was forbidden by everyone’s parents!!!
    • My aunt, uncle, and 2 cousins, who were deaf, and their friends since we spent a week with them and enjoyed privileges that we didn’t have at home. Plus, I learned sign language and could be immersed in a signing household, quickly learning with plenty of practice.
  4. What activities felt unique to summer and you remember them fondly?
    • Picking wild blackberries and then treating the infestation of jiggers afterward with clear fingernail polish to smother them as they had burrowed into our skin.
    • Chasing June bugs and catching fireflies (lightning bugs we called them)
  5. Any special fun memories from your childhood summer wardrobe?
    • Barefoot—technically the absence of an otherwise vital wardrobe item: shoes. Our shoe-protected feet soon toughened up. By mid-summer, we could run on any terrain without discomfort.
  6. Recall at least one summer trip from that era. What makes you laugh when you recall it?
    • Two weeks at Camp Occoneechee, Girl Scout camp in the NC mountains.  Some of the most fun of my childhood. The first year I attended, I had an eye-opening discovery at breakfast one morning. Most of the girls ate toast face up with butter and jelly on it!!! I thought that was very weird since I came from a household where we folded the bread to keep the jelly from falling out. When I discovered my practice was the unusual one, I found that very unsettling. My norm wasn’t shared! MY WAY was simply A WAY!!! A very early and strong insight into realizing that limited experiences lead to unstated assumptions that aren’t easily revealed until you have more experiences!!
  7. What about your childhood summer is no longer part of your world, less because you grew up and more because the world changed?
    • We didn’t have air conditioning in our house when I grew up. While that’s still not unusual for some people in some parts of this country and world, that’s very unusual now in the 21st century South. I love reflecting on how air conditioning, and the absence of it, shapes daily activities and an overall mindset about the heat. Since no air conditioning was the norm, we created other norms to accommodate it. We played outside most of the time. You would not catch us in the house after about 11 a.m. and certainly not in the afternoon—too hot. Except for eating dinner, we played outside until dark every day. We adapted to the nuances of the day, seeking shade and greater stillness in the hottest periods and saved our vigorous fun for late mornings and early evenings when relative coolness could be found. Hide and seek was most fun as dusk turned to dark, and we worked to squeeze in a few extra minutes before the parental call home! We took baths at night to clean up from all that outside play and to cool off. We sat still in the evenings usually watching TV because too much movement worked up a sweat. We slept with the windows open and the fans blowing. All the outdoor play made sleep easy despite the heat, which was, after all, the norm for us.

Your Stories—Have Fun!

I’d love to smile at your summer memories if you’re willing to share in the comments. But even if you don’t share here, have some fun sharing with others.

Enjoy summer!

 

Photo by Anastasiya Romanova on Unsplash