When I was growing up the summers seemed like they

When I was growing up the summers seemed like they lasted forever. I grew up on a farm so there was always a great deal of work to be done. We all had chores that we had to complete. My family members worked well together and we always had plenty of time left over each day to play and have fun. Some of the time we would do family time in the evenings and other times we would have neighbor kids over to play yard games.

My parents yard was one of the favorite gathering places for most of the neighbors. The yard had many mature trees as well as opened areas. The lawn covered over four acres. Mowing lawn was a chore that we were all involved in. My father had three lawn mowers that were used to cut the grass. Each mower was used in different area of the yard, depending on the amount of sun the grass received. Some of the mowers were easier to start than others. They all had Briggs and Stratton engines. This may seem like an odd thing to remember, but I do because dad instead that all the mowers have a Brigg and Stratton engine so that parts could be interchanged. This may not seem too important unless you know my dad. He loved to tinker and fix things; however he was not very good at it. He would often take things apart in an effort to fix them and would then have to haul the item into a repair shop with most of the pieces in a pail.

Dad always insisted that the Briggs and Stratton engine was reliable, easy to fix and long lasting. It was not until I was much older that I came to realize that almost every lawn mower has this type of engine. I thought it was a brand name, but my husband explained that it is actually referring to how the engine works. Briggs and Stratton are the names of the individuals that developed the small engine. This type of engine is also used in chain saws as well as snow blowers and other small gasoline run engines.

Now that I am older the months seem to fly by, especially the summer months. We have a yard, but it is not as huge as the one our parents had. The neighbor kids still like to congregate in our space to enjoy yard games. I think that mom and dad would be proud that I have kept up this tradition.