Celebrate summer fun #FlashbackFriday

Good-morning, kittens & dawgs! It’s Friday with the weekend kicking off soon. Memorial weekend signified the unofficial start of Days of Gold (song by Jake Owen). The summer of 1970 is a stand out memory for me. That summer, my folks got my brother and me a swing set and swimming pool. Also, it happens my baby sister was born that summer, too. Like most kids, I loved being in the water.  Having our own little kiddie pool was a great summer treat!

 

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In the foreground left to right: me and JC and standing behind us are my best friends Anita Davis and Robbie Hogan who I’ve known since Kindergarten.

In rural West Virginia community pools were (still are) too far away to go to daily and during those early years my parents didn’t have extra money to spare, so it thrilled us to go a handful of times most summers.  Swimming lessons was pretty much was what you got on your own thrashing around in the pool or water hole trying to do what the other kids already knew. Lucky for me my best friends Anita and Robbie taught me how to dog paddle and a few basic swim strokes. My stamina was zilch, but  soon after I figured out how to tread water I started jumping off the diving board on the deep end of the pool.  It was all I could do to get back to the pool ladder exhausted and winded, but I kept doing it over again and again and again. How did you learn how to swim?

A few years later, I use to spend a couple of weeks each summer with my uncle and his wife. They lived inside or on the edge Panther State Park in McDowell County. The park had a pool. Sharon, my uncle’s wife, took me several times during my stay. We had to walk to get it to it. It was only a mile or two from their home, but it felt longer. Of course, I didn’t mind. That’s just the way things were ~ no city buses, taxis, and families had only one car. We would leave early in the mornings when the sun wasn’t high in the sky and by the time we got to the pool it was a wonderful treat to jump in the water! There’s one thing for certain by the time I spent several hours of vigorous play in the water followed by the long walk to my uncle and aunt’s house, then I was absolutely worn out. The second, my head hit the pillow each night, I’d be fast asleep.  That’s some of the best sleep I can ever remember getting. Do you remember times like that?

 

Today, I  celebrate the small things in my life.

  • I celebrate every day not just this day that we’re debt-free (excluding monthly utilities, internet, & cell service) for 3-years now.
  • I celebrate the joy my passions (writing, photography, and music) bring to my life.
  • I celebrate life’s simple pleasures ~ sunshine on my skin, casual drives, Lil’ critters in my backyard, smell of wild roses and honeysuckle.
  • I celebrate the long days of summer, ice cream cones, fire flies, and golden sunsets across diamond sparkled East Tennessee lakes to come.
  • I celebrate what we have and not What We Ain’t Got (Jake Owens’ tune).

What are you celebrating?

Let’s celebrate making new friends together and we can begin by joining Friendship Friday and Follow Who? Social-Weekend blog hops. Thanks for visiting. Don’t forget to stop by tomorrow for a little boogie session with Saturday Songsuasion!

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