"You Kids Go Outside, And STAY Outside" ~ Original Story About Growing Up ~

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It All Makes Sense, If You Stop To Think About It

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What's All The Racket?

A school bus broke down in the middle of the two-lane road 'out front' this morning, which in itself, is not an event worth noting, or writing about on Steemit. I'm sure these things happen now and then, irregardless of State-mandated maintenance schedules for schoolchildren conveyance vehicles.

What IS significant, is what alerted me to this event. A 47,000 decibel alarm going off at 0830 in the morning that jolted me and more than a few cats out of our morning reverie. The loud sound was coming from somewhere deep within the bus stuck out on the road.

Mind you, this is not the usual, after midnight, "I think someone's breaking into the car out front dear, go take a look, and take the golf club with you, " car alarm. This is a school bus alarm. Designed by someone somewhere to keep our children safe whenever something goes awry within the bus. At a sound level that must, by law, travel at least two miles in dead, damp airspace. It was LOUD.

The bus folks got it all sorted out in due time, which made me and various neighbor cats happy. But interestingly, this event poked and set off a whole different nest of memories about this time of year (May), my days in school, and what it all meant to we small persons of the world.

Alice Cooper Knew What He Was Talking About

We used to have a jingle that every kid in school knew by heart and would start to sing around June 1st, when the lengthening days of summer approached. Something to the tune of "School's out, school's out. Teacher let the monkeys out. One jumped in, one jumped out. One jumped up the teacher's snout."

We were all very amused with ourselves, and quite certain we were nothing short of hilarious while singing this ditty. And though no-doubt annoying to any teacher that had to endure our antics, it was a sure harbinger of things to all-too-slowly come forth in the near future.

As Alice Cooper, the real musician sang about several years ago, "School's Out, School's Out, For - Summer." Not that we had any thoughts about this, but "About time !" And with this new position in our small-child life, came freedom from responsibility, absolutely no homework, and a total lack of the many drudgery's of life. Pretty much boundless joy on a daily basis. Time to really cut loose, and enjoy our summer vacation.

The 'summer season.' Most often spent ranging all over the neighborhood with the two Jimmies, getting ourselves into anything and everything mischievously available and within reach. All the while hearing the standard line from my Mother, every time we entered and exited the house to "just get something."

A 'Broken Record'

We'd hear it every time we came in or out the door. "You kids go outside, and STAY outside." Seems we were constantly being banished from our very own house throughout the daylight hours, except for lunch and when the dinner bell called us back to the barn some time after 5:30 PM.

At the time, this seemed a bit harsh, though we pretty much ignored her until she became more 'serious' about it. In which case we would generally still ignore her, but moved a bit quicker in and out the front and back door on our way passing through.

Or, if it was a weekend, until she called out into the garage to interrupt my Dad's latest project, to get some much-needed support in dealing with us kids. Once Dad got involved, a whole new course of action was called for. Like listening and staying outdoors as we'd been told in the first place.

But unless it was a Saturday or Sunday, or a Holiday, we pretty much had free reign of the revolving door system. And it drove my Mom nuts.

A One-Track Mind

In adult hindsight, I now fully understand this whole thing. The trips into the house generally meant one thing to us...time for a snack. We seemed to be hungry at all hours of the day during the 'off school' months. Maybe it was the summer humidity and heat, or the constant motion we displayed during the vacation day. Maybe we were a bit bored,
weren't aware of it, and filled the void with a constant search for food. Somehow I think this is giving us a bit too much credit. We just like to eat. All day long.

More than likely, this action stemmed from the unbridled access we had to the kitchen cupboards, usually un-available from 7:30AM to 4:00 PM daily, due to all that dumb school stuff we were mired in for nine months of the year.

Ah, the true meaning of summertime freedom. Access to endless food-stuffs twenty four hours a day.

And who got to clean UP the mess, following the small horde rummaging about through the kitchen every hour? My Mother. Every time the back-porch door slammed, it meant another mess in the kitchen. Every time we'd pass through the front entryway like a herd of goats, it meant another pile of crumbs on the counter.

And we haven't even gotten to the icebox yet. This must be universal. Stop, open the door, lean on the top edge and stare into the abyss of cold for awhile. Then, with the refrigerator door still propped open a bit too long with a few hip-checks, stoop for a drink of "don't drink from the carton, get a glass" cold milk.

Yes, when you really stop to think about all these things years later, "Go outside and STAY outside" makes total sense. Re-translated in adult-speak of today: "Stop making so many messes for me to pick up, every fifteen minutes of my summer day."

Father Knows Best

I'm pretty sure my Dad understood this quite plainly. Whenever he was home for a full day on Saturday and Sunday, he spent much of his time out in the garage. Doing projects. Which also makes a whole lot of sense, in the same adult hindsight.

I have no doubt he actually did have projects to do, and greatly enjoyed doing them as well. But there may have been more at play here than I realized, running all about back then like a summer chicken straight off the chopping block.

My father had been living in the house much longer than we children, all of this time having been spent with my Mother. He was an adult. He had that uncanny ability to learn from past experience, and apply it to daily patterns of human behavior.

I'm convinced that's why garage doors are so large. And there is a second 'man door' to most garages. The Dad can come and go from the garage all day long as he pleases, without going in and out of the house. The only time he has to go inside is for lunch and dinner, and whenever nature calls. Some smart Dad's even plumb a utility bathroom into their garage area, so everything but the 12:00 and 5:30 times are kept in check. Smart Dads.

We short, active ones? We never did learn. I'm pretty sure we covered about 1700 miles a day through the revolving doors of our ranch-style house. In the front, out the back. In the back, out the front...all to the tune of "You kids go outside, and STAY outside."

Summer Camp Or Bust

I now understand why my parents were so enamored of we three kids spending time in summer camp at Lake GoodGollamahootchie for two weeks at a time, and enrolled us in Summer Recreation programs at the Downtown Rec Center for several days a week during our 'time off. '

Spending our precious summer days creating gold-flecked, spray-painted jewelry from un-cooked macaroni -- or hammering away on a poor piece of copper until it no longer bore any resemblance to a semi-precious metal -- all makes perfect sense to me now. Yes, it did help develop our growing psyches into the well-rounded human beings we represent today. But I now see the real reason for sending us off in the summer for continued 'self improvement'. My Mother could have a clean house for more than an hour at a time.

I often wonder if Dad moved back into the house during the day at these times, or just stayed out in the garage, using his large and small door to gain access to the outside world. I never did hear Mom tell HIM "You go outside, and STAY outside." I'm pretty sure this Mother Mantra was reserved for we smaller, over-active members of the family. But I may never know for sure.

All I'd like to say is, sorry Mom, we didn't know we were making extra work for you. We just thought we were doing what we were SUPPOSED to do.

~ FINTO ~

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