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Thankful For Having Less

Stepping inside the house after cutting grass in the heat and humidity of a recent summer evening, I was instantly greeted by the blast of cold air provided by the air conditioning unit humming along outside.

As I grabbed some ready-made ice from the fridge and poured a tall glass of iced tea, I had to smile. How did we ever get through those miserable humid days of our childhood without air conditioning and ice makers in the fridge?

We could barely keep all the tubs of ice cream and frozen twin pops from melting in the basement chest freezer because we opened and closed it so often.

Ice cubes were at a premium, too, in the summer because no one liked to tackle those metal ice cube trays or even refill the plastic ones.

With just screens in the windows and a fan or two throughout the house, we managed to endure steamy, hot summers. We improvised many ways to beat the heat from squirt gun battles and water balloon fights to the ever-important lawn sprinkler. I don’t think it ever improved the lawn because there were too many kids and dogs tramping down the grass to matter much.

If you wanted friends to come over, you just brought out the garden hose and sprinkler and watched them appear. Sometimes we took the opportunity of the available hose to wash the family dogs. That’s if we could catch them first. Everyone got clean when we washed Pepper and Pokey.

We didn’t have air mattresses or fancy cots, but we utilized sleeping bags and blankets that we would throw into tents pitched in the backyard. Or on occasion, the cool concrete front porch did double duty as sleeping quarters when we promised not to run the neighborhood after lights out.

I can still hear the giggles of my siblings pretending to sleep with only the street lights and stars for night lights. We didn’t fear the dark of night or strangers, not with two dogs nudging their way into the pileup of kids. They served as the best burglar alarms for a house whose front door was rarely closed, let alone locked, in the summertime.

The screen door was one of the best inventions for sending a breeze inside, but it didn’t always close snugly on its own. I can still hear Mom yelling for the last one out to “Close that door. You’re letting the flies in.”

Imagine the surprise of the milkman as he delivered his goods to the front porch early in the morning. I’m sure he shook his head more than once as he had to step around the sleeping figures. Up and down the street, windows were opened to the morning air. Chores were completed before the heat of the day.

Imagine, we got through summer without air conditioners, ice makers or a built-in swimming pool. Our entertainment was what we made it — with our imaginations, a little ingenuity and time to just be kids.

Heather Ziegler can be reached via email at hziegler@theintelligencer.net.

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