{"id":1242,"date":"2019-06-18T01:52:21","date_gmt":"2019-06-18T01:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/camden.papabeaupreblog.com\/?p=1242"},"modified":"2019-09-05T17:32:51","modified_gmt":"2019-09-05T17:32:51","slug":"1242","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/camden.papabeaupreblog.com\/?p=1242","title":{"rendered":"remembering a magical time"},"content":{"rendered":"

June 19 was a special day for you & your siblings \u2013 the last day of school in Durham.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Epic!<\/em><\/p>\n

I still remember what it felt like<\/em> as a kid when summer arrived. In those days we would have said Groovy!<\/em><\/p>\n

As the final week of school wound down, our teachers (nuns in my case) backed off a little bit on the homework.\u00a0 Classrooms were hot and we had a hard time paying attention to anything. Freedom was upon us.\u00a0 Freedom to not go to school for an incredible two and a half months. Feedom to not have to study, take tests and sit still without moving at\u00a0 our wooden desks. Freedom to be a kid, relax and have a little fun.<\/p>\n

I hung out with my friends during summer, read books, swam in my above-ground pool, climbed trees, made models, listened to rock and roll on my transistor radio, read comic books, went to the Pines recreation center, played baseball, shot baskets, and made slingshots out of Y tree branches.<\/p>\n

Summer sunlight lasted way later, until 8:30-9pm.\u00a0 I remember the loud sounds of crickets in the woods at night outside my open bedroom window.<\/p>\n

Several times during the summer, we\u2019d visit my Grandmother at her cottage at Wells, Beach, often sleeping over.\u00a0 She\u2019d bake bread and her husband (not my real paternal grandfather) would bake pies.\u00a0 I loved playing with my army men on the beach, throwing the frisbee, digging holes and going in the water.<\/p>\n

Relatives on my Mom\u2019s side came down from Berlin, NH (where she was born and went to school). I liked hanging out with favorite cousins, Paul & Marc Montminy (twins), who were two years older than me. On warm summer nights, we\u2019d gather on our screened in porch at 7 Lord Court in Somersworth, eating sliced canned ham and potato salad my Mom inevitably served along with her trademark Oh Henry rice krispie treats with peanut butter chocolate icing.<\/p>\n

Below: first photo:<\/strong> at Echo Lake in North Conway\u2026me in the middle, Paul left with boat, Marc to my right, sister Fran to my far right. Second photo:<\/strong> Fran and me in front of our garage at Lord Court, Somersworth, posing with our new Schwinn bikes.\u00a0 Third photo:<\/strong> Fran and me at Wells Beach during one of our visits at Memere\u2019s cottage.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2520\"<\/a> \"IMG_2537\"<\/a> \"IMG_2532\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At least once during the summer wed reverse roles and my family would drive up to Berlin or we\u2019d meet up at Echo Lake or White Lake State Parks for the day, having picnics, hiking around the lake, swimming and eating.\u00a0 I loved those days most of all.<\/p>\n

My favorite summer foods?<\/p>\n

I loved fruit. Nectarines, plums, peaches, watermelon.\u00a0\u00a0 I ate plenty of stuff that \u2013 looking back \u2013 wasn\u2019t good for me like ring dings, funny bones, devil dogs and twinkies.\u00a0 There wasn\u2019t a single candy I didn\u2019t like as a kid. I also ate a lot of summer veggies including cucumbers, radishes, tomatoes and scallions.<\/p>\n

Fave drinks? White milk, chocolate milk, Hawaiian punch and Zarex (a fruit concentrate I\u2019d mix with water).<\/p>\n

When my sister Fran and I were too young to stay home by ourselves, my Dad worked second shift at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to be with us during the day when my Mom worked at the same place.\u00a0 We always liked the fried spam sandwiches he\u2019d make.\u00a0 He\u2019d slice up the \u201cham,\u201d melt american cheese on it, place it in between two slices of bread and add lettuce and mayo.\u00a0 We hung around him while he ate it, hungry eyes begging for a bite. He never disappointed us.<\/p>\n

Another summer memory is my sister and I eating potato chip sandwiches \u2013 Wise chips, mayo and white bread.\u00a0 Definitely not healthy, but we loved it!<\/p>\n

Sometimes Dad would take us to a nearby lake before he went to work.\u00a0 He taught me how to swim when I was young. He loved the water.<\/p>\n

I went to summer camp several years \u2013 Camp Carpenter in Manchester -run by the Boy Scouts. I learned how to start a fire without a match, swam a mile in the lake without a life preserver, went on canoeing expeditions and learned new things so I could become a Life Scout (one notch below Eagle Scout, the ultimate peak of Boy Scoutness.)<\/p>\n

I often went up to Berlin for a full week, staying with Paul & Marc, sleeping there every night, going to drive-in movies and walking around what seemed like a huge city, compared to Somersworth.\u00a0 One time my cousin Paul grabbed a cat by the tail and twirled it around and around. The cat was not<\/em> pleased.\u00a0 Paul ended up becoming a priest when he grew up, too funny!\u00a0 So did his twin brother Marc.<\/p>\n

Summer lasted forever.\u00a0 When it was time to go back to school, I always<\/em> felt like I had changed tremendously, wasn\u2019t the same kid, and a new world of possibilities would open up for me as a new school year unfolded. I was convinced everyone would notice how different I was, but no one ever did. They probably felt the same way.<\/p>\n

When you’re older, time feels different, flying by way faster.<\/p>\n

I’m so happy summer vacation is here for you.\u00a0 You’ve got time and freedom to fully relax, be young and free, have fun in an uncomplicated world, sleep late, laugh all the time and live 100% in the moment.\u00a0 All the summer adventures we\u2019ve had together over the years are with me always, keeping me young in spirit.\u00a0 What a gift you’ve given me.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re older you\u2019ll look back on the amazing time known as summer vacation<\/strong> and smile, your own memories flowing back like a spring waterfall.<\/p>\n

Enjoy every second Camden, these are special days.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June 19 was a special day for you & your siblings \u2013 the last day of school in Durham. Epic! I still remember what it felt like as a kid when summer arrived. In those days we would have said … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/camden.papabeaupreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/camden.papabeaupreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/camden.papabeaupreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/camden.papabeaupreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/camden.papabeaupreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1242"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/camden.papabeaupreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1248,"href":"http:\/\/camden.papabeaupreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242\/revisions\/1248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/camden.papabeaupreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/camden.papabeaupreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/camden.papabeaupreblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}