The Good Old Summertime
By Susan O'Doherty June 13, 2010 3:40 pm
The New York City public schools are officially open until June 28, but my son is off as of last week. The next two weeks are dedicated to preparing for and taking New York State Regents’ Exams, and he has taken and passed all of his state exams already. He’s going to baseball camp for a week in July, he plays first base for a competitive team with an intensive summer schedule, and he plans to take weekly sitar lessons, but otherwise he’s a free agent until Labor Day.
On the one hand, this is great. He needs unstructured time, and he makes good use of it — he rides his bike, plays his guitar, writes songs and sometimes just lies in bed with his laptop, catching up on missed episodes of House and Lie to Me. He and some friends have chipped in on cricket equipment and are teaching themselves to play. He and I have been working on some duets; he’s a terrific accompanist and we harmonize well together. If all goes according to plan, this will be a wonderful summer.
I remember how important these free days were from my own adolescence. During the school year, there was always something I was supposed to be doing — homework, a paper that was coming due, lines to learn for a school play, and so on. Life was sometimes hectic and fun, sometimes full of scary drudgery (chemistry and calculus come to mind), but always tightly scheduled and often exhausting and overwhelming. I loved going to, and then working
