Vacation Tales

It's full on crazy ass hot and humid here in Johnson City now and that means summer is here, no matter what the calender says. The advent of summer means vacation to most people and I'm no exception to that rule. So all summer long I'll be doing posts from time to time about vacations from my past. Some vacation posts will be fun, some not so much.

The first summer vacations I remember were the ones where I didn't go anywhere, but all my brothers and sisters did. They would get packed off to go stay in the country with my crazy aunt who would one day take us in after my Mom died. They'd all go out to the farm in Howell while I got to stay back in Detroit with my Mom.
It may not look like it to you but this was heaven to me. I had my Mom all to myself, no siblings to fight for her attention, and it was peaceful and quiet in our little home for a few weeks. I got to play with my buddies, watch as much baseball on TV as I could stand, hang out with the grown ups when I wanted, and we'd gorge on cheese pizza, liver loaf sandwiches, ginger snaps, Kool-Aid, Cokes, store brand Twinkies, and A&W drive in food. I got to stay up late, play with everybody's toys, and read all the comic books and magazines my brothers and sisters hoarded. I was happier than a pig in shit that I was the youngest and that Mom kept me back from going to Aunt Rageaholic and Uncle Adultery's place because she wanted some company and was concerned that I'd get hurt or something on the farm.

All good things come to an end some time and I'd hate to see Aunt Rageaholic's big Buick station wagon drive up and disgorge my brothers and sisters. Sure they'd come back tanned with stories about all the fun they had and how cool it was out in Howell, meanwhile I was silently counting the days when they'd be packed up and sent back and I'd have the place to myself and I'd be the alpha kid who got all the great junk food and all the attention.

All this came to an end period when we got sent to live at the farm in Howell after my mother's sudden death and then vacations took a drastically different turn for yours truly. Stay tuned for more vacation stories and memories as the summer progresses.