It’s Labour Day and one of the trees in my yard is changing colour. I don’t find this to be alarming but it is the starting pistol to future labour. I usually rake up 20 bags of leaves. By the end of this process I often question the cost and benefit ratio of shade.
Children will be returning to school tomorrow. They will have tans and tales. I don’t envy the teachers who are tasked with reeling in the freedom of summer. I was the recipient of years of formal education but there were many things I learned only through absence.
I learned that collecting pop bottles equals candy.
I learned that the public pool is louder than any playground.
I learned that siblings can be best friends.
I learned that the gravel pit is always open for swimming.
I learned that vegetables are more fun to watch grow than they are to eat.
I learned that playing the second movie at the Drive-In Theater is pointless to a 10 year old.
I learned that picking rocks is hard work.
I learned that bailing hay is harder work.
I learned that water is a magnet to flesh.
I learned that the can of beans on a hiking trip fares better than peanut butter sandwiches.
I learned that corn on the cob marks the twilight of summer.
I learned that proximity leads to friendship.
I learned that squirt guns are easier to empty than to fill.
I learned that it is best to be the first one off the Teeter Totter.
I learned that thunderstorms sound worse than they are.
I learned that flashlights are made for reading comics.
I learned that a tent makes a fine sauna at high noon.
I learned that trees are as fun to climb as they are to sit under.
I learned that Boomerangs land on rooftops as often as they come back.
I learned that it’s always worth the extra money to have your soft serve dipped in chocolate.
I learned that farmers’ tans are only funny on others.
I learned that my friend’s sister was more interesting than he was.
I learned that Popsicles shouldn’t be left unattended.
I learned that Speedos are an age appropriate fashion.
I learned that swimming in chlorine is as effective as any bath.
I learned that lawn darts hurt.
I learned that geography lessons hold little meaning on a bicycle.
I learned that root beer and ice cream are best served as one beverage.
I learned that more girls show up at the arena to roller skate than to play hockey.
I learned that the best plan is to not have one.
Brett Batten 
This is GREAT!
Thanks for the compliment. I hope you were able to see a few things you learned as well. It’s interesting to look back and consider what we learn from simply enjoying life. I hope you have had a great summer and thanks for stopping by my blog.
I’m back with my kids tomorrow. I work at an after school program. It’s going to be brutal!
Tent’s do make good saunas. Can’t argue with you on that!
I hope your day wasn’t too hairy with all the uncontrollable freedom. I don’t recall returning to school being an out of control day or week but then again teachers were allowed to carry yardsticks and those poles for pulling down the projector screen. One respects authority when it leaves a welt.
Thanks, My husband and I just chuckled through them as we are driving toward home on our last long day on the road. I learned that boys are a lot more fun than girls – even when I was 10 years old. 🙂
Hi Pat, I’m glad my post added some humour to your travels. I hope your trip was great. I may have you beat on my age when the opposite sex became interesting. I have one memory of being at my friends house and helping his sister cut pictures out of teen magazines, she was much older. I’m sure his feelings for his sister were much less amorous than mine. A boy can only play so much baseball 🙂
Cute. I used to cut pictures out of teen magazines, too. I wonder if girls still do that?
I’m sure girls still paste their heartthrobs somewhere, you know you are old when to assist would simply be weird.
This is great. Your siblings must have been quite different than mine as I didn’t realise they made the best friends much later on. I think they were too busy kicking my shins and giving me chinese burns when we were young. Thankfully they’ve given up that now. 🙂
Okay what is a Chinese burn? I have my suspicions that I have delivered a few but probably experienced more.
Surely that’s not a kiwi term? http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chinese%20burn
I have definitely received more than I gave but only because I’m such a nice person. Ok, you can stop laughing now. 😀
Fantastic, brought many smiles….:)
I’m glad you enjoyed it, it allowed me to relive a few moments from my younger years.
as Bob Hope used to say…….”thanks for the memories!” I always thought I was the only one that thought that way! 🙂
It’s interesting what stands out in our memories from childhood and more interesting that many of us can relate to each others experiences. Thanks for taking the time to view and comment on my post, both are appreciated.
I think the main reason that we can relate to each other…is because God means for us to be a family…..not strangers and wants us to see that we are all not so different as we may think!
I can see wisdom in your perspective. We are only different in slight ways. As you note, this is no accident.
Brett, you make me smile in so many ways. Thanks. 🙂
I think a few people have smiled from that post. Obviously we have some common experiences as children.