The day dawned gloriously this weekend with sunshine lighting the world I was in. The sky was an Easter egg shell blue and the birds sang sweet songs, flittering outside my window. Smelling the cooking breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon I quickly padded to the kitchen. My mother was in her bathrobe and preparing the table for a scrumptious breakfast.
"The Mandola's called this morning and asked if we wanted to have an afternoon snack with them later today," my mother informed me.
I smiled, excited at the prospect of spending the afternoon with my neighbors. We had a peaceful morning, eating the savory bacon and eggs, enjoying the taste of comfortable bed and breakfast style foods.
Finally, the time came when we met our neighbors in their patio backyard. It was a beautiful sunny and warm afternoon and there was no better day for outside fun. The patio was small but it held the four members of the Mandola family, along with my mother and me nicely. In the middle was a translucent circular glass table with white cushioned chairs placed around the table. On the table was a pitcher of pale yellow lemonade, homemade chocolate chip cookies and small wedges of sandwiches with meat, cheese and mayonnaise inside.
Beyond the patio, I could see the vast playground that we lived near. It had brown woodchucks, slides, tunnels, monkey bars, swings, and more. It was a child's wonderland
But today I was excited enough to be with my friends and family. We settled in our spots and started conversations with the people of our age. For me, that was Kelsey and Katie. Kelsey was taller, with short black hair, freckles and warm chocolate eyes. Katie also had dark hair, a cute nose, small frame and greenish-brown eyes.
Their mother momentarily ceased the her dialogue in order to serve the lemonade in plastic cups and hand out sandwiches. We accepted graciously and took pleasure in being surrounded by love, delicious lunch and the clean air.
The lemonade tasted sweet, with a little bit of tartness to it and had the aroma of authentic fresh squeezed lemonade. The world smelled airy and wonderful from the rain that had fallen just yesterday. It smelled of spring summertime magnificence -- sunbeams, rainbows, fresh and clean. I could see colorful marigolds and purple, yellow, blue wildflowers popping up from cracks in the sidewalk and spaces in the woodchucks making up the floor of the playground. The world was bright with the illumination of the daystar and we basked in the perfect weather, enjoying the quiet of the afternoon. The only sounds were birds chirping, a car rumbling by on occasion, and soft noises of other people in their houses.
After eating, we decided we would have some fun with the hose. Kelsey turned it on and started to spray Katie and me with the refreshing clear cool water and the game began. Shrieks, shouts and giggles pierced the quietness and we jumped, laughed, ran along the outdoors, playing until late afternoon.