My Summer Memories

My Summer Memories

BY SYDNEY DANGER 23, North Mankato

Growing up, having a bike meant freedom in North Mankato. Oftentimes my summer days would begin by hopping on my bike to knock on the doors of my friends to see who I could wrangle together for the day, so there was never really a need for Mom and Dad to set up my playdates. By the time I entered kindergarten I was trusted to navigate our neighborhood to visit my friends or walk down to the park, and for a kid who’s typically confined to the rules of the house or the classroom, something is empowering about being able to do things by yourself without the usual adult supervision.

While doing things on your own can be fun, it’s always better with a friend. I was lucky enough to grow up with the same tight-knit group of friends from kindergarten class at Hoover Elementary all the way until we graduated from Mankato West High School. This group of girls is still who I consider my closest friends today, and now looking back, I find it no coincidence that these were friends who lived within biking distance of my house.

As I grew older and entered middle school, the parameters in which I could ride my bike grew with me. Eventually, I was trusted to bike over to the shops on Commerce Drive with my friends where I remember feeling so grown up being able to go into a store on my own. With a few dollars in our pockets, we could be entertained for hours on end grabbing snacks from Kwik Trip, picking out random knick-knacks at the Dollar Tree, or visiting our local thrift

store “New 2 You” to see who could come home with the best treasure. Although it didn’t really matter what we did, having that sense of freedom and independence from a young age is something that simply can’t be replicated living in a bigger town.

Eventually, in high school, the handlebars of our bikes turned into the steering wheels of cars and suddenly our summers looked a lot different. My friends and I would spend hours just driving around with the windows down listening to our favorite songs, catching each other up on the drama of life, and conspiring what teenage shenanigans we were going to get ourselves into next. Quickly I had every road in town memorized from our joyrides. It wasn’t until I graduated and moved out that I realized how truly lucky I was to grow up in a place like North Mankato. It was the perfect size town to be able to navigate the steppingstones of adolescence, and after our frigid winters, summer was our time as kids to explore! The adventures I had with my friends are some of my favorite memories to look back on, and if it wasn’t for our tiny town, I wouldn’t have the lifelong friendships that have made me who I am today.