Advice for any age: “Be young, be foolish, but be happy”
It’s only April 20, but it feels like an early summer day when those sweet memories of sun and fun at the beach come back to me from more carefree times. Back in the 1960s, we never thought that summers of unimaginable heat would await us in a few decades because rhe planet is quickly warming.
So I am going to travel back to the summer of 1968. The Tams came out with what is now a classic song of the beach/Southern shag music genre, “Be Young, Be Foolish, but Be Happy.” I love that song, not only because of its sheer simplicity and joyful melody, but also because of the associations. They are rich, indeed, and take me back to my summer vacations at Folly Beach those many decades ago now.
My aunt had just bought a beach house for us all to enjoy that summer — and for many more to come — the summer before I was to start my senior year in high school. I was 17, and then, as now, I loved that special place on the Atlantic Ocean as no place on Earth. It has become a place so woven into the fabric of all our family’s lives, that even today, 57 years later, whenever I walk the same stretch of beach we spent so much time on in years past, and when the warm summer sea breezes on a hot June or July day caress my face, I always think back to the carefree, good times of youth, as only memories of the beach can call forth.
In those days, we got tans because it was the thing to do at the beach. We didn’t know much better. We put on our Coppertone No. 4 “suntan lotion” (not sunscreen) and just relaxed under a hot sun. We then jumped into the waves to cool off after an hour or so.
Later, I’d head back to the house for lunch — maybe boiled shrimp or a tomato and cheddar cheese sandwich with an ice cold Fresca.
When you are a teenager at the beach during summer vacation, time literally stands still. School is a distant memory. There are no thoughts of the chores and responsibilities that await us at home. To the surfers, it’s “endless summer.” For me it was enough to swim out a ways and luxuriate in diving down a few feet where the water was deliciously cool and inviting. Then it was time to catch a wave and body surf to shore. Those were some of the happiest days of my life, and it was painful to load up the car and leave the beach until next summer.
Ah, those were the days!
The photo is me in the summer of 1968, proud of my tan, and still very much the serious teenager I always was, despite the carefree setting.
“Be Young, Be Foolish, But Be Happy” The Tams
Wow, you look like Chip Douglas from “My Three Sons.” Remember that show?
@ravdiablo Geez! Chip was the chunky, nerdy looking brother along with his bro, Ernie. I hope you meant I resembled Robbie, the Beatlesque, moptopish, darkly handsome brother! Let’s get it right, okay?🧐😤
And yeah, I loved that show, but wasn’t it a little before your time? 🙂
@oswego I stand corrected, but Robbie was sort of a kiss up: he married that Katie, got a job at the plant, which probably made some kind of weapons system. Chip was the one who rebelled by running off with Polly. Ernie was a gas.
My sisters and I watched that show every Friday night. I can still do the theme song (complete with my hangs moving back and forth.)
@ravdiablo That was one of the best theme songs of all time.
You sure are down on Robbie. He was a bit too typical a teenager of the time, but older, wiser bro, Mike, had left the show early on, and so Robbie had to be protector-big-brother, sort of a Wally-type mentor, to Chip and Ernie. Chip was quite ernest and forthright. Ernie was pretty durn geeky. I liked that. Fred MacMurray was the rival perfect dad to Hugh Beaumont. I’d take either of them.
@oswego I don’t remember Mike – I must have come in a few seasons late.
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Such a handsome young man 😊
Thanks for sharing the song, I’ve never heard it before, but I’m adding it to my walking playlist, because that’s exactly how I feel when I’m out for a good walk!
My ‘special place’ in the summer was the outdoor public swimming pool. (No oceans in North Dakota lol) Our annual swim pass was sewn to our bathing suit. We went for swim lessons in the morning, home for lunch, bicycled back to the pool for public swim from 1-4, home for supper, back to the pool from 7-9. I did this into high school. Much like life itself, I grew from the safety of the wading pool, to navigating the main pool myself, to fearlessly diving off the high dive into the deep end. Every summer my brown hair bleached golden from the sun and chlorine, and my skin sporting a dark baby oil tan!
@elkay Those were the days! Thanks for sharing these nice memories of growing up in North Dakota! 🙂
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