Thursday, October 1, 2026
My sister and I called our father’s friends “Uncle Jack” and “Aunt Sue” Smith (not their real last name). We lived in Mount Vernon, the boot of Westchester County, and they lived in Floral Park. My sister and I believe our dad met Jack through work: Both were vacuum cleaner salesman.
Jack and Sue lived with their two daughters and a French bulldog name Dinky on a leafy street that ended at the gate to the local school playground. The four of us, the two girls and my sister and I, played together, swam together and talked about our dreams together. As teenagers, or near-teens, we would shoot baskets or run around in the playground. I still have pictures of the four of us at play, framed in my living room.
The Smiths owned an inboard motorboat, the Sue Jean, which they docked at the Freeport Yacht Club. The boat had an upper deck, with equipment for extra steering; a galley, beds and a head down below; and an aft area for sitting, talking and fishing. I remember once catching two sea bass on one line with two hooks.
We’d dive off the boat into the Long Island Sound. Once when I was 9 or 10, I dived into the water with my glasses on. Oops and ouch!
At Gilgo Beach, we docked next to other boats, and were always reminded to watch that our hands didn’t get caught between two gunwales. A friend’s aunt lost a thumb that way.
At the dock, we cooked over a grill. From there we walked on sand for hours and explored parts of Jones Beach. Other times, we drove directly to Jones and spent the day in the sun. I recall a Native American exhibit that featured a woman I later learned was named Rosebud, from a book by Marjorie Weinberg-Berman.
Of course, there were the inevitable bad sunburns and the occasional tumble in a rip current that scraped our backs. Both often necessitated a respite from the sun and the surf.
Those summer memories are deeply ingrained, and remind me of family love, friendship, freedom and learning. They’re captured in my mind and in photos. While life took us on different career and health journeys, the four of us stayed in touch for a long time. One of the ironies of life is that when I moved to Long Island to work at Adelphi, I met the former boyfriend of one of my “cousins.” We had seen each other often as kids, and found ourselves at the same events as adults.
There are other summer memories, of course, but the summers on Long Island were all joy, all fun, with no other obligations.
In later years, most of my summer memories are of work — jobs at the local pool or as a camp counselor. I found new forms of joy, like being complimented for a job well done or seeing other people benefit from my efforts. Some of the books that have inspired me over the years were summer reads. I remember in particular “Attorney for the Damned,” a biography of Clarence Darrow, with chapters describing his preparation for the defense in the Scopes trial, the case against Dr. Ossian Sweet and the Leopold-Loeb murder trial.
During one summer between college semesters, when I wasn’t working, I tried to transcribe “The Canterbury Tales” into contemporary English, an effort celebrated by neither my professor nor me.
Over the years I have counseled my children and friends’ children about the importance of taking advantage of summertime to expand knowledge and hone skills, explore the world of work — and have fun. It is a respite from school, yes, but it has its own subjects to study and master, including sports, the arts and self-discipline. The school year doesn’t allow for much exploration, given homework and daily chores, but summer provides the flexibility to play sports, attend concerts and dramatic performances, visit museums and art exhibits as well as work.
These opportunities for personal growth were among the reasons that a colleague and I wrote “Letters to Students,” one chapter of which is “Trust Yourself.”
Summer is a great time to explore new interests, make new friends and save money for college, especially on Long Island.
Robert Scott is president emeritus of Adelphi University and a co-author of “Letters to Students: What it Means to be a College Graduate.”
