Oh, Those Summer Nights

Nothing compares to the smell of a southern summer night to take you back to a well of memories....................
So many to choose from. Let's see....playing a neighborhood game of Kick the Can, Jailbreak, or how could we ever leave out--spin the bottle!! Oh me--memories! I remember sitting out on my patio many nights, smoking cigarettes with my best friend while catching rolly pollies!!! We usually were listening closely for our guy friends that were crazy idiots who insisted periodically jumping in the pond on the Country Club golf course that just happened to be behind my house. I also lived next door to the high school football quarterback. Oh did all the ladies think he was hot or what?! lol I never really saw it. He was truly the brother I had never had. Since I was 4 we'd been neighbors so needless to say...our house was the house to be for a time. Well, I remember all the fun we'd have just riding around with music blaring. All the entire bunch of us hung out in the Pak a Pok parking lot it seemed. Little did we know, our youth really would pass sooner than we thought. We had no idea the memories we were making, we just knew we were having fun!
My mama never really knew who would be sleeping in our den floor when she woke up in the mornings during summer. It was nothing to have girls wall to wall in our den--and she always had hot pancakes when we woke up. My best friend's mother was the same way though. She welcomed company. (at least our mama's knew were we were) I was so blessed to be loved enough to have a home where people felt welcome. True, we were BY FAR little angels, but I am almost certain our mothers knew that too. They just let us experience life and allowed us to fall down in safe places so they could lovingly help us up. I didn't realize until I got married that not everyone had the overnight guests, privacy, or chance to experience much of anything as a kid. Please know my parents did not know, much less allow me to smoke on the patio, but at the same time, they weren't monitoring my every move either. Yes, some say they should, but I am truly glad they didn't. For some reason in trusting me even when I didn't deserve it, I learned to be trustworthy. I am almost certain I would have run away had I grown up in some homes!!!! Thrown out for sure...ha ha ha Oh, well, summer magic still lives in the heart of every young person and for those fortunate enough to still be young at heart! No matter if you are catching lightening bugs, rolly pollies(Julie) or kisses....breathe it all in very deep--These memories you are making are the pictures you take with your heart. Frame and preserve them well!

That's all I know for now,
LO