There are so many signs of summer right now that remind me of my childhood home. The scent of honeysuckle and pulling that one sweet drop from the middle takes me right back to the honeysuckle bush in the alleyway that ran across the back of our yard. The slimy slug I saw splayed out on our sidewalk this morning made me chuckle and shiver all at once, as I recalled the time I stepped on one barefooted when I was around seven years old, and then refused to walk on our front sidewalk barefoot ever again.
We caught our first fireflies this past weekend, which harkened back to evenings spent chasing lightning bugs (as we called them back then), smacking mosquitos, and dodging that low-flying bat in the summer evenings in the empty lot next door to our house. The ice cream truck has made its grand return to the neighborhood, and even though our boys have outgrown begging for money to run out and catch it, the familiar music beckoning them to the street still brings a twinkle to all of our eyes (at least the first few times we hear it!).
As you picked up your free RFM, you may have thought your eyes were deceiving you, but no, this issue of RFM is in fact, twice as nice! After years of lamenting the fact that the Fourth of July rolls around just a few days after our July issue hits the stands, giving eager families no time to review the RFM calendar to figure out how to celebrate our nation’s independence, we finally decided to do something about it. Welcome to the first-ever, soon-to-be annual, summer double issue of RFM! We know parents are busy and don’t have the time to search here, there, and everywhere for things to do, places to go, and things to read over the summer, so we’re making it easy for you. Now that you’ve picked up your June/July double issue, you can keep it handy for the next couple of months, for beach and poolside reading and summer fun planning.
We’ll be back in August with a new issue each month for the rest of the year, and until then, we’ll update you each week in your email inbox, so be sure you’re subscribed to RFM eNews (you can sign up on our homepage) to get all the latest contests, events, and online articles. And follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, too, for daily news you can use, new contests, and the occasional something to make you LOL (that’s laugh out loud, even though my sweet mom uses it to say love you lots when talking to her grandkids on Facebook!).
Be sure to join us on Sunday, June 9, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., for our tenth anniversary celebration at Westchester Commons (also ten this year!), with the much-anticipated concert event from our favorite kid-rock band, the Diggity Dudes (also ten this year – see a pattern here?!). We’ll dance, sing, and have cake, thanks to our cake sponsor, Publix. And a huge thanks to our presenting sponsor, Horsey Orthodontics – come see them at the concert, too.
From all of us at RFM, enjoy this packed double issue, and have a safe and happy summer!
