02/21/2023
😆
Summer evenings as the shadows grew long and the night birds changed songs, being outside was better than anything. The temperature dropped just a bit, and though it was still hot, the sun was no longer as intense. I had to wander out to sunlit patches of lawn if I wanted to feel its immediate rays. In the meantime, moms, dads, neighbors and neighbor kids were out in droves. Those sixties days on hot summer nights bring back the best of memories. The streets were often busy intersections of human life. What glorious days to be alive, when television only offered three, or four channels and neighbors offered Popsicles, or ice cream on a stick.
Dads home from work meant more cars in driveways or on the street. They made great hiding places for army games or hide and seek. I ran in my summer thongs getting painful cuts between my big toe, or bloody scrapes whenever those flip-flops caught on the asphalt tripping me up. A Band-Aid solved all of life's problems; if our wounds got to be too red then a little ointment helped. The threat of school was still a fair piece off in the distance; we didn't get too rattled about it as there was still lots of summer left. The nights were meant for playing and the days were meant for playing.
I still recall the joy of trying to coax the neighbor's dog into running through the sprinkler with us instead of chasing us on our bikes; how wonderful it was to listen to the men make jokes that none of us were supposed to hear; how grand a summer evening was with a slice of watermelon and an ice cold cola. And when the sun turned out its light, I spent long evenings with my brothers and friends on a yard blanket staring up at the stars while spotting for flying saucers. Strange worlds, monsters, mystery and covert secret agent action was perfect once the light of day went to bed. Life was perfect.
