summer in the city — hello sunshine

fortune

has it's cookies to give out

which is a good thing

since its been a long time since

that summer in brooklyn

when they closed off the street

one hot day

and the

FIREMEN

turned on their hoses

and all the kids ran out in it

in the middle of the street

and there were

maybe a couple dozen of us

out there

with the water squirting up

to the

sky

and all over

us

there was maybe only six of us

kids altogether

running around in our

barefeet and birthday

suits

and I remember molly but then

the firmen stopped squirting their horses

all of a suddebn and went back in

their firehouse

and

started playing pinochle again

just as if nothing

had ever

happened

while I remember molly

looked at me and

ran in

because I guess really we were the only ones there

- lawrence ferlinghetti

summer in this city is on fire. it's hot. everyone is looking to cool their jets. and with over 3.5 million people calling los angeles home, a few hundred of us are bound to have the same idea. case in point, a day at our favorite splash pad. never had i seen it so packed as it was last saturday. then i came to find out it was national dance day. so that threw another gaggle of coordinated people into the mix of toddlers and chaperones.

oh and did i mention there was a dj? of course there was. what else was everyone going to dance to? LA, you sure know how to TURN IT UP. grand park was a full on dance festival before noon. millennials and grandmas were getting down. and when the dj played "stayin' alive" even this mother was "stayin' alive." and it felt good to dance. i had not a care in the world. josh gave the boys snacks while i grooved my little heart away for the length of the track.

all too soon the loudness of the event, coupled with the lack of space to just be... well, it became too much for my little crew. so we decided to cool off elsewhere. though i may have danced and hummed more bee gees songs in my head along the way.

we set off for the playground, followed by lunch at grand central market where a crowd was almost guaranteed but dancers and live music were unlikely.

bellies full and ready to move about again, we set off to where we began, the splash pad, only now minus a whole lot of people, and bass. actually, it was practically empty. we felt as though we were the only souls there. happy and free, we began splashing about. screaming and running. making our own music. our own dance party. just us. making this incredible memory that i hope to never forget.