I got to bed at my regular time last night. In addition to the Green Acres re-runs that lull me off to dreamland most nights, the neighbors were having a little party in their driveway, which is only a short distance from our bedroom window. No this did not bother me. I like to go to sleep with quiet talk and laughter in the background. They broke it up pretty quick anyway because little kids.

When I was a little kid and we still stayed at the Old Cabin in the summer, us cousins were put to bed in the back half of the living room, our beds enclosed by a system of curtains. It was comforting to hear the grownups talk in front of the fire as we were drifting off.

This afternoon our neighbors and some friends reconvened for a little more partying. This time they set up their bouncy house next to our front yard and I read Project Hail Mary to the sounds of little kids having fun. We didn’t have personal bouncy houses when the beach urchins were little. They only got to use them at the Haisley ice cream social or other little festivals. Tip Up Town maybe?

When the beach urchins were young, the neighbors on that side often took care of their grandchildren while their daughter went through cancer treatments and an ugly divorce. The kids even lived there for a year and attended Haisley. Since those kids were close in age to the beach urchins, they were all constantly banging in and out the door. I loved it (usually 🐽) and miss those days.

What was the most fun was when we got enough snow that the kids could sled in front of the grandparents’ house down into the street. That house is on a kind of a high spot in our mostly flat neighborhood so there’s a bit of a slope. I remember once when school was canceled the next day and we let ’em sled until well past their bed times. Good times.

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