04 May 2011

Summer in the City: 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History

Week 18:  Weather.  Do you have any memorable weather memories from your childhood?  How did your family cope and pass the time with adverse weather?  When faced with bad weather in the present day, what do you do when you're stuck at home?

"Hot town, summer in the city

Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city"
by Lovin' Spoonful

This song comes to me on hot, summer days.  Too bad today isn't one of them.  I lived in a town more than a city growing up, but it still got hot.  Hot summer days could be blistering.  What is one to do?  Head to the beach!  The city beach in Harbor Beach, Michigan helped cool me off more times than I can count.  My friends and I would hop on our bikes, grab our towels and take off down the hill to the beach.  We would swim, sun bathe, jump off the dock and just have fun.  Some of us would take a book, but I don't think anyone would read.  Even in high school you could find me at the beach in the summer.  I worked at a resort that was just south of the public beach in the summer.

This is a habit that has stayed with me throughout the years.  When I was pregnant for our daughter, Kirsten, I swear it had to have been one of the hottest summers ever!  So, what did we do?  Headed to the beach.  We were living in Deckerville, Michigan at the time and had a short 7 mile drive to the beach.  Again, we would crest the hill on Deckerville Road and a lovely breeze could be felt.  This time the book I took got read.

Now, I don't go to the beach much.  It is a little over an hour to get to Lake Michigan and seems like too much work to go.  We enjoy it on vacation.  Hot days now are spent in the air conditioning or under our apple tree and guess what?  I still love to read. 



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