PLEASE PLAY AS YOU READ: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y00vd5HM_08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml7TmC__eDc
The wind in my hair, a treat bag of goodies from Wawa, including the blueberry triple big gulp Icee, and its almost midnight! Way past my usual bedtime, eating junk food my parents would never allow me to eat in one sitting! Yet there I am... munchin away, with my favorite comfortable pillow, my blanket, in the best "car bed set up" I feel I'll ever experience, on my way to THE BEACH. Not only me... but at least two of my other cousins, and we aren't a meek or mild family to say the least, quiet isn't in our blood. It would be a weekend full of stories that would make me the person who I am today, that's what family does. Things like "Thrasher's fries", Sunsations, the "Shore Store", Fun Land, the list is endless. Yet the freedom of that ride, that candy, would be as relaxing as the music playing. For some reason I always think anything Elvis is soothing, sentimental to me I guess, nostalgic for sure. My Granny looooovvvvveeedddd Elvis. *Side Note: The day Elvis died she was on the beach and everyone on the beach started yelling and crying, passing it along. Apparently that day she drank an entire bottle of Bacardi (her favorite before later switching to Coor's Light) and her two son's had to carry her off the beach because she was so distraught.. love that story! Anyway... Driving to that beach on a midsummer night with my Granny was a dream. Especially because she never got off work till Eleven PM every night, so I always felt like Smoky The Bandit leaving my house that late.They say that grandparents are supposed to spoil their grand kids but she took that to the next level. She married her job, as a nurse she was Irreplaceable. If you need to switch a shift or extra help working late, she was your girl. My Gran worked hard, and she was fabulous at it. I used to never understand how she did it all because I never felt neglected of her time. She always treated us to everything. Once a year she would take all of my cousins and the aunts and uncles to Hershey Park. At least once a month she would take us.. all grand kids... to the movies:! *Side note on those movie trips... #1. When I was about 9 years old she took 8 of us to see " The Generals Daughter"! She had no idea what it was about. For anyone who has scene it you know that in the first ten minuets of the movie is the most gruesome rape scene ever, She was absolutely mortified! I'm laughing about it just writing it haha. #2. When she took us all to see "Titanic", we still joke with my one cousin to this day about it because it was the first time he saw a real boob. Moving on.. back to the beach... it took us about an hour and a half to get there, she would just talk, play her music and smoke her Marlboro reds. There was nothing like understanding land points when your younger, it only builds the excitement! I still remember knowing to make the right at the McDonalds, past what used to be Roses (where she would like to stop because they had really good "Texas Tommy Hot dogs" that she would have to get after shopping), then take the short cut at Jake's Crab Shack, then onto Longneck Rd., and once we passed Grotto's Pizza the excitement was uncontainable!The turn into Bay City only amped us up further. All of us would begin to get rowdy until she said,"Shhhhhhhhhhh you better be quiet or Mr. Hitchens will come out and get you!" ( Mr. Hitchens was a made up evil old man who ran the neighborhood, and would drag small children into the swamps if they misbehaved) Then there it was ... F-17. I used to think it was F-17 because it was always 17 degrees inside. Whenever I would bring a friend I'd say don't forget your winter coat and snow pants! Gran liked it to feel like Antarctica in there. True story. "The Trailer" had such a beachy feel, simply relaxed. She loved lighthouses, pictures of her children and grandchildren. I mean she had photo albums for days. We would sit at the kitchen table and go through them, trying to memorize our history with her stories. Our heritage, the people we came from. P.S. the worst seat at the kitchen table was the one on top of the vent, it was freezing. Yet for some "homey" reason you could sit here with her and play Rummy for hours, refilling her ice was her only requirement. She had a magnet collection on her fridge. The magnets were from everywhere, the stories as to how she got them were endless. Pulling into the rocky driveway, you knew it was time to put your shoes on because those rocks were like tiny swords on your feet. We would have to grab as many bags as we could, I personally was all about making it one trip, though it never was. I will never forget the smell as you walked in. A mixture of faint suntan lotion, with an essence of a an Oder free special candle she got from Colorado that was supposed to eliminate the smell of cigarettes. Honestly though ... the trailer wouldn't have smelled like Gran's if it didn't have a trace of both cigarettes and her perfume... White Diamonds by Elizabeth Taylor. After unpacking and getting settled in she would set up our bed's. If you thought the "car bed's" were great... the bed's in the living room were out of this world. What this women could do with an egg crate, a sheet, pillow, and comforter (which p.s. she has like thousands of) made you feel like you were sleeping at the Hilton. We would all fist fight over which movie we wanted to watch, it was always between "The Big Green or The Sandlot"... possibly "Furn Gully"... even though Granny would always win with either "Mortal Thoughts" or "One Flew Over the Coo Coo's Nest". Always age appropriate. Even though I was stuffed from all the junk in the car we would all go round and round with her about how we aren't hungry any more, she was always trying to feed us. In her room she would slip into her navy silk two piece pajama set, and put on her long fuzzy purple robe. When she would come out she would ask each of us at least ten more times if we wanted a sandwich. For the 85th time we said no. It wasn't until she sat down at the table, lit her cigarette, and took her first long swig of her Coor's Lite on Ice... that someone would want a sandwich. But she would gladly jump up to make it. She was the best, and today is her birthday. It's hard to miss someone, especially on a forever basis. Death can be so final. So all though this blog make have no point, it is simply a memory I wished to jot down. Its been almost 4 years since she passed away, and although I will never forget her memory, I miss you everyday. In case I didn't say it enough, " I love you Gran." HAPPY BIRTHDAY
