I retired my school shoes, lace up saddle oxfords, the first day of summer and traded them for Keds (I had a pair in red and one in blue.) or preferably just going barefoot. My bare feet toughened up pretty quickly as I ran around the neighborhood enjoying the FREEDOM of childhood summers.

Waking up to open windows with only a thin screen between me and the great outdoors was heavenly. A gentle breeze blowing the starched organdy curtains in my ever so PINK bedroom. Sunlight dancing on the walls and calling me to “get up and come play”!

I could see my neighborhood school from the front yard…it was absent of me and my friends squealing on the playground. We had abandoned it Memorial Day and wouldn’t revisit it until after Labor Day! Three months of bliss had started…days to just unfold in “all things summer”.

Only the rich among us had their own swimming pool so my respite on those hot Georgia days was running through the sprinkler! We didn’t take fancy vacations but had a summer visit to my Aunt Muriel’s every year.

Going to her home in South Carolina was a highly anticipated treat! She lived on the Black Mingo…a river so named because it looked as black as ink. Momma wouldn’t let me swim in the river. There truly were alligators in there! This, however, did not stop the cousins from skiing and swimming in that black water! I watched from the dock…

I was “horse crazy” so the main attraction at her house was the horses! There was a white pony named Pet who had her own little cart! She was definitely best suited for the cart; when we saddled her she would blow up her belly and you might find yourself sideways, hanging on for dear life. Then there was Goldie, a beautiful palomino…think Roy Rogers and Trigger! The biggest horse was Ernie…a HUGE hunter used for fox hunts. There were others, too, but these three are stamped on my memory.

We had saddle bags which we filled with maypops for attacking each other as we “hid out” in the tobacco fields! It was an idyllic childhood for my cousins and me, and the “not blood” cousins from the other side of my aunt’s family. The kind you acquire through marriage!

It took several hours to get there…this was pre-interstate! We usually left late in the day so we children would fall asleep during the long drive. Even the trip was fun for us… a mattress in the back of my uncle’s station wagon made a good place to anticipate our destination!

These are still some of my sweetest memories…”nothin’ could be finer than to be in Carolina” still plays in my head and heart. Thank you, Aunt Muriel, for all this fun…AND your name. The best gift!