Markley's Blog

With summer arriving soon just a little glimpse at what my summers where like in my younger days and how I now long for the same days that have past so rapidly by.
I can recall really not looking forward to weekends in the summer. We had a trailer that sat on the banks of the Fox River in a little town called Norway. It would start out with the task of loading the car. “Don’t put that there”, my brother would tell me. “Where else do you want me to put”? I asked. “Both of you need to learn how to pack a trunk”, our mother told us. We did not have a station wagon and the minivan was never even heard of yet.
It was about sixty miles west of where we called home, but to me it was like an eternity away from my normality. I would always fall asleep on the way there. There was really nothing for me to do. Except for when we first got down there, my brother and I had the chore of cutting the acre parcel. That was exciting! “Don’t forget to cut around the evergreen trees out in the front”! My stepfather yelled out. “I can’t hear you. What did you say”? I asked as I shut of the mower so I could hear him. He would repeat himself and act annoyed that he had to remind me. “This really wasn’t any fun”.
My parents and my brother would look forward to the ritual every week because for them it was a weekend getaway from their normality and a way to relax. They would sit all weekend long and fish. For me the best part of the weekend were the meals. From a well stocked breakfast to a dinner that was always grilled. That was about the biggest highlight of my weekend. I remember one meal mom asked. “Who wants bread”? I sat there and thought for a moment and then answered. “I do”. I must have taken too long to answer, for when I did mom was already sitting down. Out of frustration she blurted out “What do you want bread for”? In an act of defense my stepfather said, “You asked who wanted bread”. That was something we would always talk and laugh about whenever someone would ask for bread.
Following each meal they would go back and fish. In the early morning till late into the night they fished! I would amuse myself the best I could by playing with my Matchbox cars and listening to the radio. (AM radio) I would also play solitaire and listen to the radio. This was way before iPods and personal computers. Heck, it was even before most portable anything. Just me and my little cars, a deck of cards and the radio, for the whole weekend!
Needless to say I would look forward to Sundays because we would head back home (again falling asleep) and I would be back to my normality once again. If that was not bad enough; one whole week of the summer my parents would take a vacation down there and I would be in that situation for the entire week! I hated it. There were bugs (which I hated). And we had to use an outhouse that would make me gage whenever I had to use it.
As my brother and I got older we were surprised when my parents bought us mini- bikes. Now the weekend was something I looked forward to. “Now you guys be careful” would be moms warning. “Ok mom don’t worry we will” we would tell her, trying to sound convincing. My brother and I would be gone for hours and we would be having a blast, as we would fly down the gravel roads with both of us smiling and laughing as we made new adventures every weekend.
Time goes by so quickly that sometimes all you have left are memories. You may think that you never had quality family time, but you really can see that those were some great moments. And it makes you stop and think of all the good times you had as a kid. When loved ones are gone those memories seem to be constant and you wish for those times to return. In today’s hectic life with cell phones and personal everything’s, there is really no escape from everyday responsibilities. When those memories invade my thoughts I kind of wish I could go back to the weekends that were filled with boredom, bugs and even that stinky outhouse.