The Boys of Summer

"The boys of Summer" is one of those phrases that I've heard most of my life it seems. I did have a vague notion that it had to do with baseball, so one quick Google search later I found it is that and more. Most significant to me was probably the Don Henley song since I was a high school Junior at that time and I imagine it was constantly on the radio.

• Baseball: 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers Roy Campanella, Carl Furillo, Gil Hodges, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, and Carl Erskine. Coincidently as I was doing this little research project I discovered that the last of these men, Carl Erskine died April 17th 2024 at the age of 97.
• Book: 1972 written by Roger Kahn about the Brooklyn Dodgers 1955 World Series team.
• Song:  1984 performed by Don Henley on his                                                 'Building the Perfect Beast' album.
• Film:   2024 a fantasy adventure film currently in post production.

This year I have my own boys of Summer. I don't think you can necessarily see the changes that occur in your life. You adjust to them in real time and they become the new normal. Then events come along that harken back to a prior moment and you think, "Wow things really have changed around here." 

For me that describes our current Summer with our two "boys" home and living with us. Our oldest who will be 26 in August and the youngest who turned 20 in May, are "home for the summer". You may also remember them from previous posts as #1 and #3. 

#3 is still in college, so his being home for the Summer is still somewhat of a given although with internships etc. looming in the future this may be his last full Summer with us.

#1 is now an officer in the Army National Guard, his guard location nearer to us than his own home. He is also finishing up a paramedic program at the University. This requires a certain amount of hours and calls riding with both a rural ambulance company and a city fire department. Putting him with us about 3 days a week for a month for the city rotation. Coming home tired and wondering how his father (now retired from law enforcement) and I a nurse did and still do this kind of work for our entire careers. Working with the public when they are not at their best on the daily is not an easy task, but it is some sort of calling I guess.

#3 who is pursuing business marketing with an emphasis on golf, works at a local golf club and comes home hot and sunburnt and wondering if there is such a thing as "too much" golf. Still a "no" at this point I think.

Both of these jobs require them to be up and out of the house by 0530. (We are a military time family) If you know these boys at all you will appreciate that this is not their finest hour. They are not morning people, unlike their sister, #2, who since infancy will pop her eyes open at 0530 with a smile on her face and go 100 miles an hour all day long until she puts herself to bed at 2100, 2200 at the latest.

So back to the actual point of all of this. These two boys, men now, which really gives me pause, were the two who had to be dragged from the bed, told multiple times it was time to go. Set their alarms and snoozed them until the last moment. They were consistently flying out the door at the last possible second. Running down the hill to catch the bus. When they drove to school, well I don't even want to know about speed limits and tardies. Some things should just continue to be on a need to know basis when it comes to your now adult kids.

When I knew they would both be here this Summer, I thought,"How is this going to go? Am I going to have to roust these people every morning?" I am up that early some days for work, but not ALL the days. I don't want to be getting up and having this same old script mindlessly running, ruining?, running every morning. "Get up! You need to leave! You're going to be late!"...and on and on...

Then I heard them talking downstairs. Their voices a low rumbling, "What time do you need to leave?" "Do you need to shower first?" "How long will it take you?" "I think mom made muffins." "Oh good! Is there coffee?"

This is a conversation that in my wildest imagining I could never have brought to life when they were 16 and 10. Their voices still changing at the height of their teen/tween years. Constantly bickering, picking fights and wrestling around on the floor. Rooms full of clean/dirty clothes all of which lived on the floor, after all who needs dressers? Backpacks overflowing with random papers, always unable to locate about 85% of the necessary equipment for any given activity or sport.

This morning lying in bed because it is my day off but when you get to be a certain age you are still just 'awake'. I heard them each in turn get up, shower, come upstairs to the laundry room for clean clothes, because we still don't need dressers. Go to the kitchen to root around in the pantry for some sort of 'on the go' breakfast, grab a can of coffee from the fridge, talk to the dog and quietly leave the house. Car engines starting as the sun is turning the Eastern sky pink and cotton candy. Gravel crunching under their tires as they pull down the drive and off to their respective jobs and lives with zero intervention from their parents.

"I can tell you, my love

for you will still be strong

After the boys of Summer

have gone.

Don Henley

The Boys of Summer 1984