the summers made us
There’s something specific about summer that awakens a whole wave of nostalgia in me. I yearn to be outside, warmed by the sun, reveling in the smells and sounds unique to this time of year: the buzzing cicadas, the sharp scent of freshly mowed grass. It’s impossible to avoid the memories of my youth, the long stretch of a summer day, the endless question of what to do next.
Being the youngest of four, with two parents who worked full time in the 90s, meant I never spent my summers at day camp or the Y or with a playful babysitter. My older siblings were “in charge," which is to say my summers were spent riding bikes, exploring hidden corners of the neighborhood, seeking shade under trees, ringing doorbells to see who could come out and play. I was outside from morning to night, with breaks for slapped-together sandwiches, sticky peaches, salty chips, and whatever else we could scrounge from the pantry. When we could find a grown-up to supervise, we stayed in the pool until our fingers pruned.
I complained about being bored. God, I was bored. So I invented games and stories and fantasies. The hardest days were the ones when my big sister wouldn’t let me tag along and my favorite neighbors were at the beach or sleepaway camp. What did I do? A whole lot of nothing.
an adult summer
Now, twenty years later, I yearn for that feeling again. The stretch of having nothing to do. It was slow, but it was creative. It was playful. It was freeing.
The "90s summer" is everywhere lately, and while I tend to question trends (what is whimsy, really?), this one I feel in my bones.
Modern culture is go, go, go. Do more. Here’s an AI prompt to double your output. Here’s a digital frame that color-codes the thirty things you need to do today. Here’s a Reel of a project you should tackle this summer, a tip for setting your kids up with activities, a recipe for the whole family. And on and on.
Some of that is inevitable. We grow up. We take on responsibilities. It might be summer, but there are still three meals a day to prepare, bills to pay, lawns to tend, floors to sweep, toilets to scrub.
remember being bored?
So yes, I get the yearning for a 90s summer. And while we may never again have that wide expanse of three empty months, we can get closer to the feeling. We can allow ourselves time to be bored, to let our brain wander, to rediscover our creativity.
It starts with our phones.
Responsibilities won’t disappear. But unnecessary distractions can. You don’t need to overhaul your life to taste a little of that old slowness. You just need a few small swaps, the kind that give back the hours your phone has been stealing. You just need to be a little more bored this summer.
If you want a structured way in, that’s the whole idea behind Rewire Your Digital Habits. It's 35-day reset for the relationship between you and your screen. If you start today, your summer will be transformed by mid July.
If you're not ready for a big transformation, here's some small swaps that will get you a little closer to that summer your soul is craving.
my favorite cd player / cds I'm listening to: Gracie Abrams, Radiohead, Billie Eilish / new camp snap camera / books I'm reading: Girls Girl, Land, Whistler / my kitchen radio