Summer’s here, and the time is right…for dancing in the street.

 

That’s right, summer is here. Kids are out of school, people will making their pilgrimages to points North and South, and the city will become a virtual ghost town. Or will it?

 

It seems to me that the city has changed so much, that there’s such a pervasiveness to the “PC” culture, that the old guard will finally come to grips with not being able to jump in the family truckster on Thursday night, enjoy the weekend in (Falmouth, Laconia, Hampton Beach, etc.) and then show up Monday morning like nobody noticed they were gone.

 

I guess if you’re over 30 that kinda stinks, because if you grew up in the ‘Ville, then that was part of the summer ritual. It was for me when I was a kid, and then again when I had kids. It was for my friends as well – some of them still do it. When my kids were in their teens, we would spend almost every non-working moment/weekend on the Cape or up on the Lake.

 

If I had to pinpoint why I don’t do that kind of routine anymore, it would be because now that the kids are grown and have their own kids, my wife and I like to travel. A lot. We went to the Azores in February, we are going away for three nights in a few weeks, and are planning a trip outside the country again later in the year. You see, I always figured that once the kids were grown, then it would naturally be the time for us to go see the world.

 

I think that even in this time where traveling the world is sometimes dangerous, we shouldn’t shrink down and be afraid to still explore places and cultures different from our own. I believe that part of the problem with society in general today is that there isn’t enough perspective of the past/history and even less understanding of the future/unknown. Instead of taking the kids to Martha’s Vineyard to sit on a beach and/or play tennis and be stuck with the same people every year, why not take them to the mid-West? What about Canada? Why not Mexico? There’s always England, Ireland and Europe. There are so many choices, even in 2016.

 

Don’t be afraid. Don’t believe everything you read and hear and see on TV. Go see for yourself. Take your kids, show them something other than the usual. Can’t afford to travel? Give them an instrument and let them bang on it as much as they want. Give them a journal and encourage them to find their voice. Encourage them to learn another language and read a book. If you give kids choice that will enrich their lives now, they will be better adults later on. #GMK