Today is a wonder, sunny and warm and beautiful. The leaves barely stir. It is a day to be outside.

My house still has that morning chill as last night was in the 50′, but it is already 75˚, the predicted high. Tonight will go back to the 50’s. If I could design a day, it would be just like today.

When I was a kid, we used to camp out in my friend’s back yard. She had only one neighbor in the back on the other side of a tall, grey metal fence which ran behind all the duplexes where we lived. It was like a border wall.  I remember that house. It was white, had a long front porch, and black shutters by every  window. Their yard closest to the fence was pear trees. We’d pick the pears through the fence. I remember they were hard to bite. I don’t think we ever waited until they were ripe. Our camp was simple. We’d put a tarp on the ground and have blankets and pillows. We’d each have a flashlight. We’d bring snacks. We were never afraid of sleeping outside. I remember lying on my back and looking at the stars. The sky was full of them. I was awed.

When I was in Ghana, I slept outside during the hottest part of the dry season. My mattress was brought out for the duration. The yard was concrete so the mattress was a must. During the day it was leaned against the wall separating my house from my neighbor’s house. Just as it was in my childhood, our house was a duplex. My friends lived on the other side of that wall. I had no other close neighbor’s. Once I was robbed, and I slept through the whole thing. I even had two guests, other volunteers, sleeping in yard with me. They never woke up either. We were all robbed of money. My camera was taken, but it was found just outside my house. You couldn’t buy film for it in Ghana so it was useless. Despite that robbery, I always felt safe in Ghana. Thieves wanted my money. They didn’t want me. While lying on my mattress, I stared at the stars. I had never seen so many in my whole life. The night was bright from the light of all those stars. I was awed.

This entry was posted on May 29, 2018 at 11:02 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.