Remember that Summer?

It recently occurred to me how formative my summer jobs were as a kid growing up in a sleepy little town in central Massachusetts.

The handful of cool jobs like scooping ice cream,

life guarding at the pond,

or working at the one real store in town

seemed to be grabbed up by those with connections… so it forced the rest of us to be creative.

It was possible to patch together babysitting and/or lawn mowing gigs if you were willing to endure the most boring summer of your life for $1/hour – which didn’t include riding your bike in humid hot temps across town… because all parents back then shared a secret pact refusing to drive teens anywhere.

But I’ll never forget the summer my best friend and I led a Theater Arts camp in the basement of the Congregational Church. The town Park & Rec board required that an adult sponsor us (thank you, young & trusting teacher) to be added to their list of programs which included a decent stipend.

The two of us had a blast leading sessions of surprisingly large groups of school age students in various Improv & Acting exercises with a grand finale performance across the street on the town common for family and friends.

I can’t remember if we had help (junior assistants?) – I just remember the heady feeling of being in charge of a pile of kids, planning fun activities, eating snacks whenever we felt like calling a break, and getting paid for it!

As I recall, parents seemed more than willing to drop off their precious cargo with two basically unqualified high school girls with zero certification in anything – just big hearts with wild imaginations.

And what we learned that summer – responsibility, flexibility, ingenuity, cooperation, discipline, organization, and most importantly, fulfillment – has lasted a lifetime.