Night Swim

Growing up in Maryland in the 60's was unremarkable. Our family had just the right amount of money....I didn't have everything and I didn't know what anything cost. We lived in a neighborhood of new split-level homes with 3 different models to choose from - the only nod to random was the color of the shutters and whether the house faced left or right.
Summers in the Maryland suburbs were hot and sticky. There was no central air conditioners and only a few houses had window units, but we did have an above ground pool in the backyard with a little deck running around it. And on hot nights, my Mom would use that pool and make it into a magic night.
We would come home late from church (we went twice on Sunday and Wednesday evening) and my Dad would go off to bed. My two sisters and I and my mom would slip off our dresses and slide quietly into the pool in our bra and underwear. The water was never crisper or cooler and the only lights were the stars and moon. We swam and floated and whispered to each other. I was a mermaid those nights.
When the last of the hot day was gone from our bodies, we climbed out and into our pajamas. My Mom would set up four cots on our screened back porch and we would drift to sleep - cool and tired.
We have a pool in our backyard now and the kids still love "a night swim." Everybody has to wear their bathing suit and the house is air conditioned (you actually freeze to death when you go in after a night swim) and we don't have a screened porch, but it's still their favorite thing. The kids should be in bed earlier and they have terrible pool hair in the morning but who can resist the magic of a night swim?