Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - July/86

Contributor - Freda Witteveen

Title - Untitled

Topic - Women

Dear Irene:

Hi! How are you? In just a few weeks the kids will be back at school after their long vacation. I don't know if I can last until then. I don't know whose idea it was that children should have a ten week summer vacation: if we ever find out we could maybe see that that person's name is removed from history books.

When you and I were growing up, there were two songs that contained these lyrics about summer, do you remember? "Oh, those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer," and "Summertime, and the livin' is easy." Yes, those songs were popular in that era, which our children now call the 'olden days'. Those words for me conjure up a picture of a cool Southern belle lounging beneath a huge magnolia tree while servants refresh her with glasses of mint julep and fan her with an outsize fan of feathers. However, that is not my own experience of summer.

Summer is the kids demanding daily to be driven to the local swimming pool with their friends and after being in the water for only half an hour they get out to play on the playground equipment which is of course free, but the pool isn't. When I'm not driving them to the pool for the public swim, it is a drive there for swimming lessons. At least we don't have our own pool, the kids think that would be wonderful, but guess who would end up adding the chemicals, vacuuming it, and putting on the solar cover? When we were kids swimming was fun but now I have to pack the shampoo and conditioners because we know how damaging the chlorine can be to skin and hair, and my daughter spends more time in the shower and with the blow dryer than she does in the pool.

We as Canadians, I think, build up a huge expectation during our long and arduous winters that summer is going to be just great. However, the six months of biting winds, snow, and slush, cause us to forget that summer is not perfect. You know that we cannot go to the beach to relax and enjoy the sun and surf because we are too busy counting heads and trying to identify our offspring with their hair all wet and plastered down so they look like little seals.

And, really, even the local pool, or the beach by the lake does not satisfy this generation. What they want is a long, hot, I drive, in a car without air conditioning, of course, to a giant, and expensive, amusement park, or a place with those mile lonp, water slides. Don't they know that their mother is terrified of these so-called amusements and views them as being fraught with danger?

But, if you don't take them on an exciting excursion they will complain that there is nothing to do and plant themselves in front of the 'boob tube' until they have taken root there, and then how will I explain when they don't show up to register for school?

There is, of course, one great family activity in the summer. Mother gets to fill in her time by packing the trailer, getting clothes and food ready. Yes, camping really does promote togetherness, especially with two days of rain and everyone cooped up in the tiny camper with mother trying to restrain hubby and the children from violence. At Christmas you are still shaking sand out of the blankets, and to be honest, I can't get excited about the flavour of charcoal in my food three times a day.

Of course one of the highlights of the summer is the week each of the kids spends at camp. At least Mom is going to get some rest.

Did you ever notice, Irene, that in the ten weeks of summer vacation for our kids, the only week it rains is the week the kids go to camp? Everything comes back with mold in a variety of colours, and the week after camp usually finds Mom washing and mending. Why is it that the zipper on your perfectly good sleeping bag breaks the day before camp?

However, summer is more conducive to being outdoors and to take time from our busy routines to appreciate the lushness and beauty of the world God has created for us. We. should take time to reflect on our relationship with God, has our faith grown, are we maturing in His love? That is my hope for you this summer.

With love,

your sister, Freda

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