Let the darn kids play.

THE NIGHT AIR is perfect this time of year for sleeping with the bedroom windows open. But the other night, some neighborhood teens were having a great, noisy time of shooting hoops and using their outdoor voices a few hundred feet away. I thought they’d knock off by 9 pm. Nope. Maybe 10? 11? Nope.

I thought about but decided against going out there and asking them to wrap it up. Being a teen isn’t easy. Good for them, I felt, that instead of going out finding trouble, they were home, engaged in a wholesome activity. I wanted them to enjoy it. Were they being thoughtless? Sure. But thoughtlessness isn’t a crime. And maybe more than being thoughtless, they were being teens. That’s not a crime, either, and they won’t get to be teens for very long.

Besides, I had an alternative. 

​I closed my windows, turned on the AC, and fired up the CPAP. It pretty much blocked out their noise. I can’t speak for my other neighbors, but as for me, I slept quite well.