Spring Break 2007, my mother booked a house on the gulf in Fort Morgan, Alabama. Although we did not have the money for the trip, she has always been big in making family memories so tries to take us places as time and money allows. This would be the first trip without my father since he had started a lawn care business and did not feel he could leave his customers for a week.
Mom told him, ‘It’s just grass.’ Although torn, he opted to stay home. He listened to his head and mom listened to her heart, so he stayed home and off we went. Mom had to work until 3 a.m. so I had to drive from Lebanon, Indiana all the way to Alabama. She was nervous, but I assured her that I could stay awake and I made her very proud. My grandma and aunt went along in a separate car and met us there.
My grandmother has never really liked kids, but we took her along anyway because she always struggled financially and was not able to see the gulf or ocean much in her younger years. We spent the week on the beach playing basketball, go-carting, and just hanging out. I had to be very responsible and be the ‘man of the house’ since Dad had stayed behind.
The only good part about him not being there was that Mom didn’t have to worry about the dogs and cat. We have rescued seven dogs and five cats and poor Dad acts like he hates them all. It was Palm Sunday when we were there in Alabama so we went to mass to see different catholic churches, which is always neat . A friend who went with us has a caved-in chest from a deformity so we filled it with Cheetos and he layed in the sand to feed the seagulls out of it! We had a fun week and arrived home safely ‘protected by the armor of God’ as mom kept reminding us.
And what do you know? It snowed in Indiana and dad couldn’t mow.
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