Splish, Splash

Summer rain, nothing else quite feels like it. The smell of the fresh rain. Memories of rushing outdoors, splashing in the puddles in our barefeet. We had a ditch that was about 3 foot deep that ran along the front of our yard. When it rained a lot it would fill up. If it didn't fill up but half way we would jump into it, with our tenny shoes on as people would throw their soda bottles out of their cars and sometimes they would bust. Very rare you see a ditch along a house now as they all have pipes underground for the water to move through. Our family home had no Air Conditioning, we had an attic fan and window fans. Mom would shoosh us outside after breakfast so she could get her housework done. The house was hot during the day so it was better to just play outside. We used the waterhose to cool off with. There was always plenty of kids to play with. I remember before we moved to Arkansas we lived in Rockford, Illinois. There was 2 boys next door I did not like playing with or rather I did not like them playing on our swingset. One time they got on the teeter totter part of it and I rammed my head into the underpart of one of the seats to stop it. We wound up in the Doctors office. I don't remember if i got stitches but I do remember that huge lollipop he gave me. Now I think back on it. When I repeated that action again and the 2nd time I did get stitches. Was it all because I wanted another of those big lollipops? Our Dad removed the teeter totter. When we moved from Illinois to Arkansas, I remember the swingset got put up without the teeter totter on it. Years later Dad built a shed with a leanto carport on it. He paved the driveway, even under the carport. Everytime I stepped up into that shed, I could look down and a corner of that yellow teeter totter seat stuck out from where it had been buried underneath that asphalt.