I am seventeen. A senior in high school. It is early May and it has just recently started feeling like summer is on the way. I feel the pull to the beach and simply cannot resist the temptation. After begging my mother non-stop for hours, throwing in some great guilt-tripping about how I never see her, we are on our way to lake michigan instead of school.
I still remember that day like it was yesteday. I remember listening to Corrie Hart's Boy in the Box tape on the way up to St. Joseph. I remember going to Lulu's boutique and finding my graduation outfit - and being so shocked that my mom was buying it for me. I remember going out to lunch and eventually baking in the sun. I drove home - a rare thing in and of itself - and fought sleep the whole way.
I remember wearing my sunburn like a badge. I couldn't have been happier. When I look back now it isn't about skipping school...it was about being with my mom. It was about us never looking at the time, never once the whole day thinking we had better things to do. We just drank up that time together. It was a perfect day.
I have tried to do this occassionally with my girls. I hope they remember these special times and like them as much as I did at their age....