9/12/2009 — Now that my son has completed his first week at our local high school, and is working hard at perfecting his cynical teenage facade, I’m feeling a bit nostalgic for the summer a few years ago when he was satisfied with simply being a boy. 

At the time Andy and several neighborhood friends were at the age where they wanted their freedom from the structured environment of day camp.  Because I worked at a small business about a fifteen minute walk from our home, I felt safe in the knowledge that I could be available quickly if there was an emergency.

So the boys rode their bikes into town for ice cream cones, headed off to swim at the local public pool, went to the convenience store for gum and candy…..and turned our back porch into a club house —  complete with an old TV for video games, posters, a cooler, magazines and all sorts of junk I had to step over when I came home at the end of the day. 

Even though the official “Simpsons Club” existed for only one summer, I couldn’t bring myself to remove the rules that my son wrote on lined paper and taped on the wall for all to see. Until today.  I hope when he is an adult, Andy will look back on that summer as fondly as I do. Since the picture is hard to read, here are the rules below – as written…

Club Simpson

Code/Rules

1. Each person must donate at least 2 items to the club

2. NO MOOCHING

3. NO Breaking things

4. Have to be a member to come in

5. NO teasing or hurting April (ed. our dog)

6. NO stalking fellow members into the bathroom or anywhere else