A Summer Day

Summertime, after school was out, it was a time of sweet repose. After the lawns were all watered, our mother would take us down to the lake for swimming lessons. We were lucky to have Lake Mead just five miles away from our home. We would stay at the lake for some time after and then head home. When we got home, we had lunch and then laid down on the front room rug and Mom would read to us to help us fall asleep. Some of the books I remember were Where the Red Fern Grows, Boxcar Children, Heidi, and others. She would read while we fell asleep. We would try to stay awake so she would read more, but usually, someone would nod off, and she would stop. We did on occasion try to poke each other just a little to stay awake, but soon someone would drop off to sleep, and she was through reading until the next day.

My favorite book was Boxcar Children. I would have liked to have had a boxcar somewhere near our home that my brothers, sister, and friends could have lived and played in. It was my kind of adventure. It never happened, but we did have places in the desert to play and build forts.

I really enjoyed those days. I was never an athletic type of person. I was once told to go swimming because it was easier to stay coordinated. I was very good at swimming. I could swim pretty fast, and I could swim all day. I was just a tall, skinny, uncoordinated kid.

In the evening, on many nights, our dad would take us back down to the lake to cook hot dogs and sometimes have a watermelon. After we were through eating, it was time to go back into the lake and swim some more. Our dad was a good swimmer, and he enjoyed having us all together at the lake and not wreaking havoc in the house. When we got home, we would have prayers and head off to bed to await another day of swimming and one of our favorite times, listening to mom read to us. On days that there were not swimming lessons we would still head off for the lake most mornings. On a few occasions, I rode my bike down to the lake with Dick and Patty and then wait for Mom to come down later.

Rose, Bob, Carolyn, Leonard, JoAnn, Jim, Gene in high chair

There were many people that lived with us at our home at one time or another. My Aunt Elvie stayed with us for a long time. My adopted sister Donna, who was my step-cousin before my parents adopted her, JoAnn who lived with us all the time, Cindy who had been adopted, Dick and Patty my cousins on my mother’s side who lived with us on a couple of different occasions. Later, our step-grandmother Afton lived with us for a few years, and our Aunt Mary. There were also the children of Mom and Dad, Jim, Bob, Carolyn, Gene, and John, who was born after I left home for a mission.

I truly loved summertime, no school, warm weather, swimming, picnics, and all the things we could do with very little supervision. That may not have always been a good thing, but I sure liked it.