Summertime

Some see Memorial Day as the unofficial beginning of summer, so I thought I'd do a summertime post. The way I feel about summer could not be better represented than in the above Calvin and Hobbes comic. Many of the activities that Calvin and Hobbes are shown doing are the same that I did growing up with my best friends. Digging holes, climbing trees, taking silly pictures, looking under rocks, gazing at the clouds, inventing games, lemonade stands, and catching lightning bugs are some of my most cherished summer memories of my childhood.

Calvin and Hobbes also hold a very special place in my heart. I remember as a child in elementary school, I would anxiously await the arrival of the Bookmobile. Whenever it came to my school I would always take a Calvin and Hobbes collection to look at. My parents started buying me the collections because I enjoyed them so much and I ended up owning every Calvin and Hobbes book. Being a kid, I didn't keep very good care of them, and some of them became damaged from frequent use and general carelessness. A few years ago, my dad bought me The Complete Calvin and Hobbes which is a hardback three-volume set containing all the strips. I was elated.

Since then I have enjoyed reading Calvin and Hobbes even more than when I was young. Rediscovering the strips and reading them as an adult further capture my imagination and make me appreciate the times I had when I was young. Ari really enjoys looking at the strips as well, as we often look at them when I put him to bed. I don't really read them to him, but just explain to him what's going on in a particular strip. I remember the first time I stumbled upon the above strip while reading to Ari; as I was explaining it to him, I kind of got choked up, it was so powerful for some reason.

Calvin and Hobbes encapsulate the best parts of summer. Playing outside, discovering, imagining, creating, exploring, and never letting a moment go to waste.