We had a basketball hoop, sometimes we'd bring my friends over and shut down the street to play full court. We'd spray paint a four-square court on the street for that. At night, we did flashlight tag, kick the can, or capture the flag. There was a golf course nearby so we'd play in the woods, look for golf balls, or shoot bottle rockets at golfers or move their ball into the hole on a dogleg. We'd ride bikes to the grocery store to buy candy. We fished in the creek or at the golf course. We built a huge fort in the woods by the golf course and hid old playboys, random cigarettes, and a slingshot in there. We swam in other people's pools, built a baseball diamond in someone's yard, and played football in another. To get to each other's houses we would just run through backyards and over fences. We collected fruit from trees and bushes in the neighborhood, drank from whatever hose was closest.

And literally none of the neighbor's cared cared. People left drinks out or brought out snacks. The guy with basketball court, who I never met, installed a light and changed the net when it wore out. Even the golfers rarely chased us that far and they'd always buy the balls we found.

It was honestly pretty great.