New York, Nu York: A Simple Summer Joy

By ELLEN LEVITT
Many of us have high expectations for our summers. Typically we want to cram in as many fun, amazing, distinctive activities as we can, to tide us over during the months of more serious (and tedious?) ventures. I guess I do get caught up in that "Savor the Summer" attitude. And it can be a letdown if summer just ain't what we envisioned.
Therefore I try to also savor the small enjoyable moments, the things that are simpler and more often overlooked. One of my smaller joys this summer was watching my two daughters bonding more than during the school year. For a sizable chunk of the summer, they were doing separate activities. My younger daughter was in sleep away camp during late June into mid-July. When she came home, my older daughter went to her sleep away camp. (Note: my younger daughter attended Camp Sprout Lake, the New York State junior camp of Young Judaea; my older daughter attended Camp Tel Yehudah, the senior national camp of Young Judaea.)
So they were not really together until August 13. But I noticed that from that time on, they have spent a lot of time together, comparing notes on their camp experiences, discussing our family vacation, talking about music and movies and other things. The plan is that next year they will both be at the senior Young Judaea camp together, so they spoke in depth about that. My younger daughter met two of my older girl's best camp buddies and bonded with them as well, so they all had a lot to talk about.
It is gratifying for me to see this, and I truly hope that their relationship will grow in this fashion. My mother and my aunt, her older sister, were close throughout their lives as well. Even when my aunt moved way out west to the San Francisco Bay area, the two of them spoke on the phone several times each week and even wrote letters to each other. The modern day equivalent is that my daughters text each other, send each other Instagram messages, and sit on the couch together, talking or watching old TV shows on the computer laptop. (They have been a bit obsessed with the black-and-white TV show "The Twilight Zone" lately.)
And as summer fades away and the kids return to their respective schools, I do hope they continue to treasure their special relationship as sisters. They would probably roll their eyes if I were to wax rhapsodic like this, and maybe they would laugh together at me. But maybe, just maybe, they would understand my hopes for them. And when the older sister gives Bat Mitzvah ceremony advice to the younger one, I feel a special joy and pride.