A Visit to the State of My Birth

My birthday week is also my wedding anniversary, so the past couple of years have been a little tough without my Vince to celebrate with. But I’m pretty good at distracting myself – and I have some pretty great people in my life who help to distract me, too.

 

This year was no different.

 

I went to visit my cousin and friend in Ann Arbor a few weeks ago as a quick late summer getaway. And, okay, sure, it also gave me a bit of a break from having to get up at 6 a.m. every morning to walk my precious little Maggie Minx.

 

Hey, what can I say? I love the little stinker. But I also have to confess that I don’t love getting up before dawn to stumble around in the dark with a poo bag and a flashlight.

 

Anyway, Cathy and I spent hours talking and catching up on both current events in our lives as well as sharing memories from our childhood.

 

We spent some time exploring the area – including the campus at the University of Michigan. Yeah, yeah, my OSU brethren may boo and hiss – but, c’mon. Have a little respect. We’re rivals, sure, but we’re also talkin’ family here.

 

The day we drove around campus was Move-In day for the students, which meant we were dodging veritable throngs of children. Yeah, I said it. It’s hard to remember ever being that young. And yet, we were that same age when our parents released us into the wild that is a college campus.

 

What Cathy and I found amusing, however, was the way the co-eds were dressed. About 95% of them had on cropped tank tops and frayed edge jean cutoffs with the pockets peeking out of the bottoms.  (Which translates to short shorts. Very short shorts!)

 

Holy tomatoes – it was like we were transported back to the 70s! I wore the exact same outfits in high school. Well, not to actual class. But after school? Yeah, I sported that very look.

 

Now, of course, I’m amazed that my mother let me walk around like that. Guess she was picking her battles and that wasn’t the one to fight about?

 

I don’t know, but it’s too bad I can’t ask her now.

 

Another day Cathy and I took a tour of the homes our families lived in back in the day. While I could remember the name of the street my family lived on when we lived in Dearborn, I couldn’t remember the street number. I knew it had five digits, but all the houses on that street had five digits. Not helpful.

 

On the other hand, I was only six when we moved from Michigan to Ohio – so I had to give myself a pass.

 

Nevertheless, as we drove up and down the street that held my earliest memories, it was so familiar. I can remember my grandfather rocking in a rocking chair on the front porch. I can remember chasing the neighborhood boy across the street after he clonked my brother John in the head when the three of us were playing in the sandbox and John wouldn’t give up the toy Douglas wanted to play with.

 

Good thing I didn’t catch Douglas. What was I thinking I’d do to him? Clonk him back? I dunno. But I just knew I was fiercely protective of my brother and I didn’t like seeing him hurt.

 

And when I was five, I can remember morosely looking out the window at my brothers who were taunting me because I had the chicken pox and had to stay inside.

 

My revenge was realized shortly thereafter when I so kindly shared the virus with them. (Hee hee. No scratching, boys!)

 

Yeah, I was protective of him, but that didn’t mean he could tease me at will without any repercussions.

 

Anyway, it was a fun day with Cathy and it wasn’t something I would ever have thought to do. But, again, remember I was six when we moved to Ohio. I couldn’t have remembered the streets my cousins lived on back then, let alone the specific houses. I had to rely on Cathy’s superior memory. Plus, she’s a few years older than I am and she lived there a lot longer.

 

Hey, it’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

 

Before I left to head back to Ohio, Cathy said she was going “up north” to the Irwin family cottage for Labor Day week and I should think about coming up for a few days.

 

My initial reaction was…But I’m here in Michigan now. You want me to come back?

 

And my next thought was Well…maybe.

 

She said she was hosting a cookout on Sunday, and lots of cousins would be there – so if I were coming I’d definitely want to be there on Sunday.

 

That was certainly an incentive as I love my cousins. And my cousin Margie who lives in Washington state was going to be there – and I hadn’t seen Margie in several years.

 

Still. I had to think about it and I told Cathy I’d let her know.

 

So…did I or didn’t I? (If you read my Facebook posts, you already know the answer), but stay tuned for more of the story.