Summer on the Shore

I was in high school when the Lovin' Spoonful’s hit song, Summer In The City, came out.  At one time I knew all the lyrics, but it was only the first few lines that would replay over and over again in my mind years later when I was jammed into the 151 during a July rush hour evening. 

Now, I really do love Chicago in the summer -- it's a fantastic place to play.  But working in the city is a very different experience. Just walking on pavements in the Loop, the heat would rise out the sidewalks. It was rarely pleasant when dressed in a business suit and nylons. 

It was while going home - standing in a sweltering bus (it was a fairly typical for the air conditioning to be on the blitz) - that my memories would drift back to my childhood summers on the North Shore.

I could see my dad coming in through the front door, hot and exhausted. He’d take off his coat and tie and sit down in the kitchen to talk to my mom. He always looked so spent from that hot day in the city. Sometimes, if we were really lucky and he was up for it, he’d take my brother and me to the lake for an evening dip.

I remember in the mornings how my mom would pack up the towels and buckets and we’d head down to the beach, where she’d join her friends with their children. All the moms would line up their beach chairs along the shoreline and lay their feet in the water. As they shared their lives, they would be vigilantly scanning the landscape to keep a watchful eye on all the kids. 

We might be swimming out to the raft or playing Marco Polo or making sand castles or wandering up and down the beach collecting frosted glass. When our lips and nails turned blue, we’d bury ourselves in the sand or wrap ourselves up in a towel and lie still or nap. 

As a child, summer always began with the Winnetka Children’s Fair and would end when school began the Tuesday after Labor Day. There were picnic dinners at Ravinia and Fourth of July fireworks celebrations. In the evenings we would run outside in the evenings with our mayonnaise jars to capture lightening bugs or to participate in a neighborhood game of kick the can or capture the flag. As teenagers, it all seemed rather boring but as a young child, it was truly idyllic.   

Though our family usually took a long, hot road trip to Montana to visit my grandmother, most of our summers were spent at home. My parents could never really understand the rationale for owning a summer home…. why leave the North Shore?  There was just too much to do and nothing was better than our lazy summers at home. 

Hot time, summer in the city? Not any more -- today I find myself loving  Summer on the Shore.