Long Summer Nights

Thinking back to my childhood, I remember those long summer nights. Those days that felt like they went on forever. Being outside, the long twilight, playing and eating late. Staying up past my bedtime and falling into bed exhausted.

It's funny how my girls getting to that age - that age of being able to remember it as an adult - has spurred my memories to the foreground. I remember being 6 or 7 (Ellie's going to be 5 on Friday) and running around in a flowy nightgown pretending I was... flying... a princess... beautiful... a bird... who knows.

Jumping off the picnic bench while mom and dad worked in the garden, dad listening to the baseball games. Playing with my little brothers, doing my own thing, sneaking the juicy, ripe tomatoes out of the garden to eat whole - and getting "yelled" at for not washing them first. Going to bed while it's still just barely light with the breeze blowing the curtains - snuggled in my parents bed for some unknown reason.  Hearing them in the above ground pool in our back yard giggling. (Turns out they were skinny dipping! LMAO!) 

Checking out the stars. Seeing the moon rise so big over the yard that I thought it was a planet.

Riding bikes on the back track. Building a tree fort. Playing in the "woods". (A small strip of trees between our back yard and the dirt bike track behind our house.)

Wow. The amazing memories!

I love how my girls growing up doesn't make me feel older, doesn't make me feel every bit my 42 years. Rather, it makes me feel younger, brings me back to those carefree, innocent times of singing my heart out with no care of what anyone thinks....

Maybe I need to sing even louder and without a care in the world.

I love my girls! Thank you for this precious gift....