As you get older, summer is not what it used to be.
As a kid, summer always began with grading day. One of the best days of the year was when you were released from your constant stream of learning for a full two months. And not only was it the release from school, but it also sometimes meant little trinkets or treats from teachers, possibly a toy from mom or dad, and a lot of stores and organizations held celebratory events with free food and games.
However, when you get to the age where summer begins much earlier for us university students, that usually means an extra month and a half of work. Don’t get me wrong, I love work — something to keep you busy and entertain you so you don’t go insane from boredom. But when you compare the summer of a seven-year-old versus a 19-year-old, there just isn’t as much to be excited about.
Let me begin with swimming. As a kid, when you got to go swimming, it was amazing. There were so many cool beaches, lakes, or pools around Cape Breton Island. I remember jumping into the water, doing cannonballs, somersaults, handstands, looking for starfish.
My favourite place to look for starfish was McPhee Island. My brother and I would look for starfish for hours, we’d collect shells and everything. But now, if I go to the beach, I’d get some pretty strange looks if I did everything I used to. Ah, I know the word for it, this is called adulthood. Adulthood makes summer quite a bit more boring.
Cape Breton has had some pretty nice summer days lately, it just makes me want to swim, draw pictures with chalk, go to the playground like the one at Wentworth Park, ride a bike, eat ice cream and so many other awesome kid things.
The next thing is back to school shopping. I loved back to school shopping when I was younger. I never actually wanted to go back to school but getting to shop for new supplies had so much appeal to me. I loved being able to have a fresh new pencil case with newly sharpened pencils and fun erasers.
There are plusses to adult summers too however. Like driving for example — being able to drive and roll down the windows on a hot day travelling to a destination with friends or family is the best.
And money. I remember receiving my first-ever paycheque and being on cloud nine. You have so much power just sitting in your bank account. I don’t think I actually bought anything special with my first paycheque, but just having it is amazing. But money in the summer is the best because you usually have more time from not being in school, so a full-time job is an option. Then, you can use your money to go on whatever summer adventures around Cape Breton that you please.
I guess both of those things kind of cancel out though because the more road tripping you do, the more gas you need, and the more gas you need, the more money you spend.
As a child as well, summertime often means more fun family barbecues and treats such as ice cream. When I was at Makin’ Waves and Ribfest this summer, I noticed an extremely long line at Annie’s ice cream parlour filled with excited kids dreaming of giant ice cream tacos. And now, even just looking at the amount of sweets and ice cream in that one shell makes me feel ill.
I love ice cream so much, but it’s definitely something that I enjoyed so much more freely as a kid.
I’m so happy for all the summer experiences I had in Cape Breton throughout my childhood. But, I also can’t wait to enjoy many more adult summers in Cape Breton, maybe I’ll even look for some starfish next time I’m at the beach.
This column was originally published in The Cape Breton Post on July 28 2019
Hannah Rudderham Portfolio 