THE SUMMER OF 59

Now, it's time for some wonderful memories! To this date, the summer of 1959 remains my most vivid and memorable one ever! We were still living on those paradisiacal 100 acres. The place with the lake in front and several small ponds scattered in the back. Among other things, I owned a horse, an Easy Bake Oven, and 2 Barbies. She was the only doll worth having, and one of mine came with 3 interchangeable heads: a blonde, brunette, & redhead all with different hairstyles! Don't let anyone ever tell you that things don't make a person happy!

The previous summer, my mother & I had flown to Detroit to visit relatives. This summer, the entire family; my parents, grandfather, my 19 yr old brother, & I packed into my father's big new powder-blue Chrysler Imperial. This car had high fins in the back and a horn loud enough to make the dead jump out of their graves. To this day, it remains the most gorgeous automobile I've ever seen. Cars all became ugly once they did away with the fins, at least to my eyes.

We took the scenic route enjoying all the roadside attractions along the way. Seeing and driving over mountains for the first time was a tremendous thrill to me! Florida tends to be flat, unlike my Aunt Kiki.

She was my mother's youngest sister and a former model. And Kiki could still turn heads in her blonde beehive! We would be staying with her and Uncle Ron. He was the fun uncle and my favorite with his quick wit and sharp sense of humor. We would be staying at their home.

They owned a big 2-story house with an attic and a sprawling basement. I had never seen a basement before. They are nonexistent in the state of Florida. And this basement was breathtaking! It was a combination office and recreation room.

The entire upstairs was ours for the duration of our stay. It felt like our own private suite.

Aunt Kiki had just purchased a brand new convertible. I couldn't wait to go for a ride with the top down. Kiki mentioned she had been out driving the day before while wearing an off the shoulders dress. Someone at a stoplight yelled to her that she looked as if she was driving naked!

I told her to wear it again for our ride. I was so excited; this was a new experience! Unfortunately, the sun was so brutal that day it was unpleasant and we had to cut the ride short. However there were plenty more new experiences ahead for me!

We spent a day across the border in Canada. Back then, no passport or visa was required. To get there, we had to travel thru a lengthy underwater tunnel. This felt scary, but also rather thrilling! I expected to find something tantamount to another planet when we emerged on the other side.

However Ontario was similar to what we had left behind, only less congested. But I still found it interesting. I wanted a souvenir to bring back. My parents bought me a small carved wooden donkey.

When we returned to Detroit I took it out of the bag. On the bottom was stamped: Made in Japan!

My father took me and a second cousin to the zoo. In this one, the exotic animals had plenty of space to roam free. We admired them while riding in an open train.

We also went swimming in Lake St. Clair. It was icy, nothing at all like the warm waters of the Atlantic or our much smaller lake back home. I couldn't move! My cousin had to pull me around by the back of my bathing suit. It was so cold I couldn't even kick my feet and this was late July, too!

On the drive back to Florida we took a different direction to see more states and different roadside attractions. We made sure to stop in Washington D.C. our nation's capitol. Most memorable of all was the Smithsonian Museum. It was like a carnival for the mind! I toured it wide eyed with wonder and awe. I was most impressed with its prehistoric exhibits and enormous dinosaur skeletons.

Our trip had been one for the ages! Yet, it felt sublime to come home. Little did I know that in just months we'd be leaving. A week before Thanksgiving we moved to our new place on the St.Lucie River, my mother's dream house, the one that never felt like home.