What Time Is It? It's Summertime!

Or it was, rather. This is the last week for the kids and the next to the last day for me. However, for the High School Musical kids, it's just beginning for them. We spent our weekend watching the trial & tribulations of Troy & company. And we really liked it!

As I was sitting there watching them, I was reminded of my summer vacation between junior and senior year. We lived in a hotel. Really, we did. Immediately after school was out in Massachusetts, we fled to Oklahoma without a house to live in. I think I was the only one with tears in my eyes.

Living in that hotel was so much fun. Coastie Brother and I had our own room with a connecting door, but still. And there was a softball tournament going on in the city so we had kids to hang out with. Two in particular were a boy from Canada who was about a year older than me and a girl from Australia who was younger than Coastie Bro but looked older than me! We hung out at the pool and had good times & good conversations. We even ventured out to the ball field to see their siblings play. I have no recollection of the actual game. Hmmm....

My favorite memory was sitting out at the pool one evening. Mom had told us to come in at 10pm. Ten came & went without Mom coming to get us. We thought, "Cool, she changed her mind." So we stayed out with our friends. When we came inside, there was a note on each of our pillows stating that we were grounded. Grounded!! Living in a hotel!! I'm thinking we sweet talked our way out of it.

All good things must come to an end and that summer was no exception. The tournament ended and our friends went home. The boy & I wrote letters for a couple of years. I wonder how his life is now. The girl & I did for a little bit but she was a lot younger than me and except for that summer, we had nothing in common. I think she also wrote to Coastie Brother. We found a house that was nice near the high school. I began my senior year and Coastie Bro his sophomore year.

And as soon as I graduated, I fled back to Arkansas where I had the summer that changed my life forever. But, the previous summer was the time when everything wasn't so complicated. The only thing better would have been to have shared it with the friends I grew up with or even the ones I made in Ma. Still, I am thankful for the ones I spent with at the pool.