Summertime, and the living is easy?

I don't recall when school started when I was an elementary, junior high or high school student, but I know it was not as early as it starts around here today, which is the first week in August. 

We might have started the week before Labor Day, or maybe the day after Labor Day, but I believe it was right around that. I always thought of the school year running from Labor Day to Memorial Day, with three months off in the summer. Breaks during the year consisted of a couple of days at Thanksgiving, two weeks at Christmas and a week in the spring. Maybe a day or two at Easter. 

As I recall, even spring break was not a thing until I was in high school. 

When my children were in school, things got started more around mid-August. When my last two were still in school, after my oldest had graduated, the school district proposed a more balanced calendar, with school starting earlier, maybe even late July, with more breaks during the year. 

I joined with other parents in vigorously opposing it, and at the time, we prevailed. Over time, however, those who favor an earlier start date have gotten their way. 

I always liked summers with my kids, and two months just seemed like such a short time. 

But today, school starts the first week of August. Summer break is two months instead of three. There are all kinds of breaks, including a weeklong fall break and a full week at Thanksgiving, and other days here and there. I suppose parents have become accustomed to this type of calendar and schedule. 

With so many families having both parents working, those breaks during the year must present challenges. Being long removed from it, although I would still favor a three-month summer break, I don't get worked up over it anymore. (But if I had a vote, it would be for a later start date.)

My grandchildren who are in school, in Alabama and Georgia, respectively, all started back this week as evidenced by the adorable pictures below.  It seems the earlier start date is a thing around the South. 

Summer is an interesting season in that even other institutions seem to take breaks. (Although not in banking, the industry I have worked in for more than a quarter-century.) Our church's regular pastors take a rest from the pulpit for a couple of months. We go to two services instead of three because more people seem to be traveling, not in town for church. 

People will say, "how is your summer going?" I don't recall being asked that about fall, winter or spring. 

There is some assumption, even if I don't have children at home and I'm not going by a school calendar, I am enjoying some kind of relaxed schedule. 

When I think back on this summer, I will, of course, think of my knee replacement surgery, which was seven weeks ago now. Recovery and rehabilitation continue, and I am doing well. 

But I wouldn't call it relaxing.