The Perfect Ending For the Ending of Summer

It was the perfect ending for the ending of summer.

The weather was hot, but not humid.

After a morning’s worth of football games, my three boys raced to peel off their equipment so they could play outside.  My Mom and I set up the lawn chairs in the shade and chatted and read while my husband washed her car.

Soon, our next-door neighbors arrived home from dropping their oldest daughter off to college for the first time.  They verymuch needed to sit and relax and unwind.  So they wandered over with more lawn chairs and some munchies.

Another neighbor driving by stopped over and joined us.

The children were content racing around on scooters, tossing the football, just being kids.

A radio played top 40 hits in the background while the children randomly sang the lyrics together.

My neighbor’s sister and brother-in-law came over with a fresh batch of homemade sangria.

The circle of lawn chairs kept growing. No one cared what time it was.

The sun set as bats and mosquitos quietly swooped.

Bug spray was applied.  Outside lights were turned on.  Sweatshirts were donned.

An outdoor movie night was suggested.  All the children scampered across the street with hands full of blankets to our neighbor’s backyard projection screen to watch a flick on the big screen while the adults remained in our yard in the widened circle of lawn chairs.

All too soon, darkness fell completely and the movie was over.  10:30pm. 

I realized my children had eaten nothing but freeze pops and popcorn for dinner, much to their delight.

As everyone went their separate ways, proclaiming how much fun it was to have had such an impromptu evening, we shuttled our yawning boys into the house.

And tucked them into their beds with their grass-stained knees and dirty bare feet.

It was the perfect ending for the ending of summer.