Warm weather is coming. Starting tomorrow we’ll have 60+ degrees for most of the week. Given my penchant for falling, I’ll forego clicking my heels in the air to celebrate. A yay will just have to do.

I walked most places around town even when I was a teenager. None of my friends had their own cars and most of our families had only the one, the one our fathers drove. I remember walking home at night by myself. I was never afraid because we hadn’t learned fear. I never rushed because I loved those night walks, especially in the summer. The air was always warm, the sky covered by stars and night birds sang me home. Circles of light were on the sidewalks courtesy of the streetlights. Few cars were on the road. Houses were always lit and most of the time I could hear TV’s. Sometimes I could even see the flickering black and white screens.

The furthest walk I had was from the diner at the end of the square. I used to belong to a drill team, St. Patrick’s Shamrocks, and we had practice at Recreation Park twice a week in the summer during the competition season. There were no lights at that field so practice ended when it got dark. After practice, we’d walk from the field to the diner for a brownie and a coke. For the walk home, my friends went in the opposite direction, and I walked by myself.

During one late walk, a police car stopped beside me. It was driven by my friend’s brother who offered me a ride home. I took it. He turned on the blue lights just as we got close to my house. He walked me to the door. I can only imagine what my neighbors were thinking.

Those long ago walks gave me a love for the night, and I sit on the deck at night with Gracie beside me. The sky is filled with stars, the night birds sing and peepers from the pond at the end of the street join their chorus. Sometimes I even fall asleep on the lounge with Gracie at my feet.