What I Really Know About Summer Nights

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The AARP Bulletin's "What I Really Know" column comes from our readers. Each month we solicit short personal essays on a selected topic and post some of our favorites in print and online. Below, reader Terri Arbin Basso shares what she really knows about summer nights. 

“Terri!” My mother's holler meant another summer night of red rover, steal the bacon and hide-and-seek was at an end.

Carefree nights playing those games, debating Roy Rogers and Superman and riding the teeter-totter left beautiful lifelong memories. But with marriage and children, summer nights changed dramatically. Schedules, new responsibilities to deal with, meant I was the one calling my children home from play.

Now I’m retired, and while it's true I don't play red rover or hide-and-seek anymore, what I really know is that summer nights bring me the same freedom and joy that I felt as a child. I'll sit outside with friends and neighbors, sharing companionship and laughter; or I’ll sit alone, listening to the night life and enjoying a passing breeze while I reflect on the good things that have come to pass in this beautiful world.

At this stage of my life, the best part of a summer night is that now I decide when it will end. But I would give anything to once more hear my mother's voice calling me to come home.

Tell us what you really know about our September topic: civic duty. E-mail your essay of up to 400 words to whatiknow@aarp.org. Or mail it to What I Really Know, AARP Bulletin, 601 E St. NW, Washington, DC 20049. Please include your name, phone number and e-mail address. Deadline for September submissions: August 1, 2008.