We traveled to northern Indiana (Amish Country) to join several of my siblings and their children/ grandchildren for a week of family vacation. I'm not fully convinced that any actual vacation occurred. I know I was really looking forward to getting back to my social service job so that I could take it easy. My hope is that my son had a great time and can begin to build memories that will carry into his adult years. He really enjoyed being with his cousins, both young and old(er). He swam in the lake for the first time, he rode on a boat for the first time and he built his first sand castle.I know that I carry memories from childhood
of summers spent at the lake (but the lake was a different location every time). There is a soundtrack that accompanies those memories. My early summers occurred during the first half of the 1970's and that soundtrack reflects the music that pumped from my siblings transistor radios. I still remember my sisters applying copious amounts of baby oil to their skin while Seals and Croft's "Summer Breeze" crackled over the air waves courtesy of WOWO.I try to be careful about what music works its way into my son's memories. Many of his cousins were listening to current favorites like Justin Beiber and the Jonas Bros. I hope Devo's memories are punctuated by the sounds of Rancid, The Clash, and Trombone Shorty.
These summer days are going to fade very soon. As the long hot days shorten and cool down I imagine Devo falling to sleep at night smiling about the time he spent at t he lake this summer with his cousins and aunts and uncles.
