Front Porch Stories: The Summer Home
By KATHY BOHANNON, Special to The Coweta Shopper
Summer is just around the bend. It has taken on a new meaning from what it once was.
When my kids were young, we spent all of our spare time in Pensacola, Florida at the “summer home” of my husband’s parents. The trip from Newnan to Pensacola was simple, and we spent however many days we had available between seeing family that lived there, fishing, going to the beach, community pool or all of the above. We spent little time there besides the necessary eating and sleeping, and it became a launchpad for our activities.
The “summer home” was like gold to us. We were a hardworking couple raising two kids. We had nice cars, a house and land that kept us both working full time. We spent weekends catching up on everything from school projects to laundry.
The notion to head to Pensacola came for various reasons; there was the summer boredom. The kids had read every book, climbed every tree, built as many forts in the woods as they could, and though we had an above-ground pool, they always enjoyed the beach more.
Another notion was when my husband would call (from the landline at work to the landline at home) and say that he wanted seafood for dinner. That was my cue to pack for the weekend and be ready to head for Pensacola by the time he arrived home.
At one very sad point my mother in law said that she had sold the place. I remember feeling so down that the days we looked forward to would no longer take place. We would now have to stay in a hotel room without the comforts of home. In place of the quick trips to the beach, I began saving all year for Disney or whatever we could manage to give our kids as well as us, a break from the routine of life.
We have been empty nesters for over twenty years and just as the “summer home” launched us into our activities, our home now serves as a launching pad to friends and family. They can come, sleep comfortably and have a dinner waiting when they return from wherever they spent the day. We don’t have to accompany them as we’ve done it all and we’re happily tired right here at home.
Having a “summer home” in the family was a huge, huge blessing to us. We have so many fond memories of going to our favorite places in Pensacola, needing only gas money. We would have to have groceries at home or away, so we just bought groceries when we arrived. One of our traditions was to put newspaper on the kitchen table and spread out a huge low country boil. Was the ink on the paper safe? No idea. We couldn’t Google anything back then and we’re all still kicking.
It’s sweet to see the old pictures of our little family enjoying that wonderful place, to look back on what was so many perfect summers.
And if you’re wondering about the “summer home”, don’t be too impressed. It was just an old single wide trailer in an older neighborhood. But it had what we needed in the way of old, cheap furniture, tiny bedrooms, exactly the amount of linens needed, kitchen supplies and nothing more. As minimal as it was, it was perfect for us to create wonderful family memories.
It was enough, and I’m thankful we ever had it at all.
Kathy Bohannon is a Christian humorist and freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].
