And it's break

 (time embargoed post)

I think back to the end-of-the-school-year feelings when I was a kid. I liked school, I liked learning, I mostly liked my teachers. I didn't always like interacting with the other students. 

Summers were, as I remember them, pretty good. Summers then were definitely better than summers now. Now I either am working too hard (like: teaching a challenging class in half the time, or trying to grind through a lot of research/prepwork when I'm just tired) or I feel at loose ends. Because I think I've forgotten how to "play."

When I was under 12 (well, to be honest: under about 15, in fact), I could play. I either made up elaborate stories for my stuffed animals to move through, or I made clothes for them (or for the few dolls I had that I cared much about; I mostly preferred stuffed animals as a kid). or I made dollhouses from boxes or "fairy houses" out in the yard. Or played games with the neighborhood kids. Or did crafts, or read library books. 

I think also maybe not being alone a lot was a part of it? My parents were there (though a number of years my dad was gone for several weeks in the summer, teaching field camp, and back in the days of expensive long-distance calls we mostly heard from him through regular letters or postcards). My brother was there, and honestly we did get on pretty well when we were small; it was after the teenaged years that we diverged in our interests and outlook. Sometimes we'd build epic things with Lego, or we'd work together on some project (like trying to dig a canal in the yard.....which got us in trouble)

And there were friends around. I had one down the street from me; the kids across the street, while they weren't into things like building dollhouses or playing with stuffed animals, they liked "exploring" (walking around the un-built-up parts of the neighborhood) or playing some kind of athletic game. I was never good at HORSE but I played because it was something to play with other people. We also played capture the flag and that football game that used to be called "Smear the...." which was essentially "try to tackle whoever has the ball"

We also played a form of flag football with bandanas as the flags. 

And there were trees to climb, and frogs to try to catch, and.....I don't even know what the adult equivalent of all those things are. I wish I knew, and they were things I enjoyed and could find a crew to do with me.