Why must summer end? Well, it must and at the Glen Ridge Community Pool on Labor Day weekend, particularly Monday, Sept. 2, folks were reconciled to a final splash.
When asked if they had thoughts about the passing season and what it meant to them, they said they did.
Adam Wasserman said that, during the summer, he and his family did a little too much. His daughter, Lilly, was in the Gas Lamp production of “Shrek Jr.” and his son, Miles, went to summer camp at his preschool. His wife, Rebecca, said they spent many days at the community pool, but one thing they did not get around to doing was letting Lilly have a lemonade stand: Next summer, Rebecca said. The family also went to Long Beach Island and Cape Cod.
“I think there’s something biological about the end of summer and its sadness,” Adam said. “Parents vicariously feel these things through their kids. But the silver lining is sending kids back to schools. They need structure.”
Craig Kabrhel, sunning himself on the pool edge, said he was not sad about summer ending.
“My kids are going back to school,” he said. “That’s always an exciting time. And we had a really nice summer. My son, Kodak, he’s 5, learned how to ride a bicycle yesterday. I tried a new technique.”
Craig said he put a towel around his son’s upper body and held it as the boy rode the bicycle, helping to maintain his balance.
“The first day, he got confident,” Craig said. “The second day, he got his balance and then he could do it himself.”
Craig said he hoped his other son, Calvin, who is 7 years old, would learn to ride later in the day.
Tambi Younes said the summer was a fun time to be with his children.
“The pool and the beach come to an end and then you go back to your routine,” he said. “But having the sun out until 8:30 p.m. was beautiful.”
Kelly Andrejasich said summer always goes too fast.
“But we had a full summer,” she said.”We went down the Shore, to Wildwood Crest and Cape Cod. My daughter was in art camp all summer, but it’s a good thing you’re moving on from something.”
Anna Coy said she felt that she was just getting started on the summer.
“I hit my stride at the end of July,” she said.
Nonetheless, she said she had a good summer and kept it local.
Andrew Nowak said his son, Konrad, learned about dinosaurs and they visited the Liberty Science Museum. In Upstate New York, they saw some bears, but Konrad did not want to discuss it. But, similar to most people, Andrew said he will miss those long summer nights.