...and the livin' was easy

Each summer I try to see how long I can go without turning on the air conditioning, and I have made it til today so far. If it were running, the windows would be shut, and I would hear its annoying murmur when I wake up instead of birds that sing their prettiest in the cool sweet mornings. My reluctance to turn it on admittedly has something to do with my economy, but more, it is because I love summer, at least the first part that starts when school is out no matter the equinox. My head still holds many a memory of happy southern summers before home air-conditioning: short shorts, cold drinks, dirty bare feet with polished toenails, Coppertoned legs, laughter and hope, freedom, pools and beaches and sandy towels, friends I loved, getting sunburned, lightning bugs and drippy banana popsicles, picnics, knowing my mother was there for me, stubbing my big toe, swatting flies, sweating. OK...so there had to be a down side, too, but looking back, it was all good. Even now I still love to hear the noise from children at the neighborhood pool and the ringing of the bell on the ice cream truck, feel the sun on my skin, drink iced mint-lemon tea and eat potato salad, watch the garden change and grow, and remember the long summers of my younger years. How can I do that with the AC on? What fun is that! Every day the same in a controlled temperature? It's not for me.