so i miss florida. we used to go for a couple weeks every summer or so, and stay relatively free in mark's (stepdad) mom's ("grandma jan") duplex. she and some really old mostly blind guy named ben (he liked to tell us his last name was "dover") lived in one side full of old lady furniture and knick-knacks. and the other side was inhabited by her sister (also an old lady) and her sister's husband and smelly pee dogs. they left during the summer months to go back to indiana, though, leaving grandma jan and ben in florida. so our family would sleep and shower in the other half. it rocked.
the backyard...well, not so much of a yard...was filled with pea-gravel, but there was a rickety old dock with a rickety old bench affixed to it. i spent hours out there watching the water move, watching seaweed and sea slugs float by, watching chunks of i-don't-want-to-know slap against the cement wall under the dock, watching hot guys in boats zoom past (the boardwalk was four houses down, within sight), watching dolphins surface and tourist boats shout with glee, watching pelicans skim the surface, watching storm clouds gather and dissipate, watching the once-a-trip manatee ease past our dock. i did some sketching, listened to some tunes, and read some books. those were my favorite moments. then adam or caryn would come out and shatter the peace and stillness, usually on purpose to annoy me, and i'd leave.
we also spent hours at the beach. i'd have to stagger my sunscreen because of my fair skin. i'd start with spf 40, the next day move down, etc. til the last couple days of vacation i'd be using somewhere in the neighborhood of 8. the only way i could half-burn, half-tan. indiana sun won't work that way for me. we'd collect seashells, and what we assumed were "shark teeth" though now i can tell they were broken-off claw tips from something akin to a lobster.
after beaching, there'd be a shower, then sitting in the AC to watch some cable before the obligatory trip to the shops. i'd walk out there, usually with adam, and we'd go hit up the same shops every day. it really wasn't THAT boring. within the two weeks i'd spend up to about my last five bucks on jewelry, presents, and "great finds." adam would buy swords and knives and have to mail them home due to 9/11.
we'd go home and either eat something home-cooked or go out with the family to a themed sea-food restaurant in the area, then come back to sit on the dock some more or watch movies.
so anyways, to make a long story longer, those are the vacations of yesteryear. not only am i almost a "grown-up" and not given to vacationing with the family anymore, but grandma jan had a stroke within the last 2 years and had to move to our home, and then to an assisted living place.
*sigh* so days like these, that just totally somehow have that "florida feel" to them drive me batty. because i dont get to go back, and even if i do it'll be all hotelified which sucks. it felt neat to have an actual house to go back to. less touristy, more permenant. like i was a step above other vacationers. but no longer am i so cool.
owell. i wouldn't want to wear a bathing suit right now anyways.
current mood:
nostalgic
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