Sibling Vacation

My brother, sister-in-law, sister, niece, and my sister-in-law's brother (or Wayne, Cheryl, Megan, Rose, and Raymond) and I went to Rehoboth Beach, DE June 14th through the 19th for a long awaited vacation. This was my first vacation in two years and god did I ever need it!

Wayne, Cheryl, Megan, and I stopped in at Cheryl's parent's home in Preston County, WV for the night on Monday to breathe in the freshness of the country air and to take in the breathtaking view of the ancient hills from their front porch. The next morning we awoke and drove on to Baltimore to meet up with Rose and then continued onward to Rehoboth.

After seemingly endless hours of riding with my knees pressed against the dashboard of Cheryl's Suzuki, we arrived at our little castle on the sand on Tuesday, June 15th. It was a 2 story, 3 bedroom, 1 bath oceanfront condo complete with a deck overlooking the ocean. Once we completed shopping at Super G supermarket and ate our decadent dinner from Dairy Queen, we all returned to the condo to sit on the deck, cold beer in hand, (with the exception of Megan, of course) and watch the ocean. It was lovely. An endless gentle breeze blew in from the East as the water stretched itself tirelessly over the sand only to retract over and over again. The air smelled of salt, of sand, of sea. It was almost perfect.

One by one my family made their way to their beds until I was alone with the wind, the water, and my Bud Light on the deck in the dark. I sat there for I don't know how long just enjoying the peacefulness and slight melancholy that the environment stirred in me. As I listened to the waves, I occasionally heard the voices of other vacationers laughing, talking, and shouting out into the night. I thought of my sleeping family upstairs and smiled. And I thought of the single bed that I would find my way to and felt my smile become wry. At that moment I felt compelled to sing "No Need to Argue" to the ocean and so I did. It was so powerful and exhilarating. After a few minutes of silence following my aquatic serenade, I finally bid the ocean goodnight and crept upstairs to occupy the top bunk of the room that I shared with my sister.

The next morning (Wednesday, June 16th) I woke to Megan tugging at my covers and saying, "Get up, Aunt Twiss! We gonna build a sandcastle!" Very rested and excited, I hopped out of bed to join my family for a nice breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast before squeezing my lilly-white ass into my old navy blue Old Navy tankini. Once suited up we all filed down to the beach with an umbrella to protect the little one and beach chairs for all. We played in the sand, built castles and mountains, and buried my brother from the waist down. On my first trip to fetch water for Megan in a pail I discovered that the ocean was quite cold...perhaps about 65 to 68 degrees. Since there was a constant breeze all day that day and the water was so frigid, I never even broke a sweat and chose not to brave the water. I did, however, get to finish reading Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk in between sand art. I also got to doze a good bit just lying in the sunlight with my family around me. It was so soothing and peaceful.

That night Rose volunteered to keep Megan while Wayne, Cheryl, Raymond, and I went to check out the local bar scene. We decided to stroll on over to the bar just down from our little slice of paradise, called The Starboard. The live band, Trip Fabulous, was headed by an adorable blonde female lead singer and an equally adorable (but in a different way) lead guitarist. They took turns singing lead vocals and were excellent at drawing in the crowd. They played mostly covers, but from what I remember, they were pretty damn good. Of course, by this point I was nicely buzzed, having had 3 cranberry and vodkas before leaving the condo, each with a shot and a half of liquor in them. Wayne and Cheryl also had a few drinks before going out and considering their current low alcohol tolerance from not imbibing alcohol within the last 5 years, they were pretty much toasted as well. :) We danced, sang, laughed, and had a general good time. Who knew partying with your family could be so much fun?

While at the bar I got hit on by an adorable little college dude. I was wearing my "Talk Nerdy To Me" t-shirt which for some reason inspired him with the ever clever pick up line of, "Hey! Nice shirt! Umm...What's your major?" To which I replied, "Ummm...I graduated already." What made this all the more amusing is that Wayne was standing right there when this guy dropped the line. Wayne's right eyebrow arched up as did mine and we exchanged a look before we both burst into laughter. The poor little college dude didn't know what to think for a moment.

After the bar closed at 1-fucking-AM, much to my dismay and disgruntlement, we walked back to the condo to drink a couple more drinks on the porch. That last cranberry and vodka that I made was probably 50% alcohol but I couldn't taste it. I drank half of it and gave Cheryl the rest. She claims that it was that drink which pushed her over the edge and bestowed upon her the first ever hang over she's ever had the next morning. :)

More alcohol was consumed and about 2AM we decided to take a walk out on the beach. Well...we walked for a few minutes and then noticed lights coming toward us. It was a little dune buggy carrying two city cops. "Everybody chill out! It's the cops!", said I. The vehicle stopped and one officer walked toward us and asked if we were aware of the beach curfew and the $287 fine per person for violation. My brother was the most sober and therefore became our spokesperson. He explained that we were not aware of the curfew and would return to our rental property promptly. The officers watched and waited as we walked, trying not to stagger and further reveal our inebriated conditions, back to the beach house. Once we reached our porch, the cops drove by and I decided to flash a picture of their little dune buggy with Wayne's digital camera. I don't remember much of the rest of the night except for a lot of hilarity on the little oceanfront deck, my brother's slurred speech, and Cheryl's endless declarations that she was not drunk. :)

Cheryl had her first hangover the next morning. Megan kept asking, "Why is Mommy sick?" so Rose and I took her out on the beach. Once the whole clan was outside and I was sweltering under the heat of the sun, I decided to test out the chill waters. Rose followed and we made our way up to our thighs and stopped to chat, letting the waves break against our bodies. The water had been pretty tame all day but from out of nowhere came one big wave which hit me hard, causing me to stagger a bit. I laughed and looked up at Rose who started screaming, "You're out! You're out!" I gave her a puzzled look and saw that she was pointing at my chest. I looked down and found my bossoms totally exposed as the force of the wave had ripped down my top. I pulled it back up hurriedly and looked around to see who had seen the twins peeking out. I looked back toward where Wayne, Cheryl, and Meg were situated and found Wayne pointing the video camera right at me and Rose. Upon viewing the tape later, we discovered that he had just missed the exposed breasts, and for that we were all thankful.

I left the cool caress of the water for the warmth and dry of my black beach towel and I managed to fall asleep in the sun. An hour later I awoke to find my ass, back, and the back of my legs a nice roasted red color. Rose helped me rub some aloe on my burns a few hours later after I had showered. Now we all know that sunburned skin is very sensitive and those of you that know me well know that the skin on the back of my legs is always terribly ticklish. Well...when she began applying aloe to the back of my knees and the lower part of the back of my thighs I started screaming and laughing in an uncontrolable and insane fashion. I'm not sure I should even attempt to describe the noise that came from my mouth. It was a sound such as an insane and demented clown would make just after murdering 20 or so school children. Hmmm...yeah...maybe I shoulda left that one alone. At any rate, my brother came running upsairs and called through the bedroom door, also laughing, "What the hell are you doing in there?" Rose was giggling a low and goofy giggle already and Wayne's inquiry worked to send us both over the edge into a wild fit of laughter. Rose managed to drool on the back of my legs and I'm pretty sure I got the pillows. :)

That night Raymond and I decided to go out again and get swept away in the beach party atmosphere. I got all hoochied up, prepared for another fun night on the town. I was sadly disappointed. The club across the way was absolutely dead and so we walked about 2 miles, checking out each little bar that we came upon. We stopped at the Rusty Rudder for a bit and watched an old and somewhat boring band perform and a bunch of old people dance. We got depressed, seeing our possible futures in their strange and twisted movements, and decided to head back to the Starboard. After drinking a few beers and watching a few semi-attractive bonehead looking college guys play a ping pong ball bounce drinking game, (during which the ping pong ball often bounced off of the table and onto the floor...and they only brushed it off and commenced trying to bounce it into the beer that they were going to drink) we strolled back to the house and went to our respective beds.

Friday the Garris and Cummings kin hung out at the beach one last time and then began packing and cleaning up. I said my final goodbye to the ocean as we departed on Saturday morning at 9am. She waved back and told me that she had tasted me once before...when I was not so bitter. :) We arrived in West Virginia at about 8pm Saturday evening. I slept on and off during the drive and found myself tired but strangely wired upon my return to my little lonely apartment. And so the vacation ended.

If at first you don't succeed...

I returned the phone calls I had received while away and Mr. Perry invited me to join him down at the Sound Factory for a couple of beers. I accepted the offer, being too tired to sleep, lonely, and somewhat depressed about the end of my trip. We hung out a bit, he tried to get me to go home with him, I refused. Same old, same old. He looked at my breasts at one point and said, "What? You mean I never get to see the twins again?" Yeah. That's what I mean. I've got to give it to him. He's persistent.

To ease the pain of my rejection of him, I encouraged him to hit on two blonde chicas that were perched at the end of the bar and he did indeed build up the courage to try his luck. However, his offer for conversation and possibly more was graciously declined by the one and he found that the other was there for/with one of the band members. Oh well...can't be a winner every time.

He disappeared after that and I was able to enjoy Split Nixon in peace. I started chatting with Matt Wolfe, drummer for the band Byzantine, and managed to enjoy the rest of the evening. Poor Wolfe got terribly drunk because people kept buying him shots (it must be nice to be locally famous) and seeing as how he lives right down the street from me, I offered to take him home. We had a nice little chat on the ride home, some of which consisted of him pouring out his inner-most secrets upon finding out that I was a counselor. I gave him some advice, which I'm sure he didn't remember because of his drunken state, dropped him at his driveway, and watched him stagger up to the door.

The Outlaw, Capitol City Gold, and an evening with Split Nixon

So tonight I finally got to try Sitar of India and man was it yummy! I went there with Vander Outlaw tonight. He's leaving town tomorrow morning for sunny Florida so we decided to have one last Hurrah and do dinner and see a band.

Dinner was excellent! I had Chicken Takki Something that started with an M...and it was delicious! After we stuffed out tummys full of Indian treats, we headed over to Mulligan's to check who was playing and found that it was Split Nixon, so we decided to stay. The problem was that we arrived at like 9:30pm and they were just setting up and it was as exciting as picking fuzz out from between my toes.

As I sat there watching the drummer assemble his drum kit, Vander came up with the brilliant suggestion that we go over to Capitol City Gold. So we did. There were only a handful of strippers, and though they were thin and pretty, most of them looked drugged out of their minds. We sat watching the girls work all of the poor Joe Schmoes for their singles.

Just as I had decided I'd had enough of anorexic bimbos parading around naked in front of me, the feature entertainer came out. She was all dressed in a black suit type thing from head to toe and had a gangsta hat on with a phantom of the opera mask. Her performance was very theatrical and spirited. She actually danced and danced well at that. And she didn't even start undressing until the second song began. I was quite impressed. She was very well built, but nothing excessive or unrealistic. Her routine involved fire batons which she used quite creatively, setting herself on fire in various locations for just a few seconds. The most memorable for me was when she put alcohol on her breasts and set them on fire. They caught and glowed blue for a moment! Now that is entertainment, my friends!

After we tired of naked women we went back over to Mulligan's. After about an hour Mr. Outlaw departed and we said our final goodbyes. Here's to you Mr. Vander Outlaw! May you find happiness in your sunny new home!

I watched Split Nixon play for the rest of the night and met and talked to various people in the bar. My sis's friends were there (as usual) so I wasn't alone. I was hit on by several men, but I "gracefully" declined their advances. I have no desire to meet anyone at a bar. Honestly, I don't know that I have any desire to meet anyone right now. I don't think I have the energy for that sort of thing. It's so hard. And so disappointing.

If only I were a two-bit whore and my standards were much, much lower. *sigh* Yes, then life would be easier. :)

I worked almost 12 hours again today. After which I went to visit my brother and his family.

I wound up going for a bicycle ride with Wayne and Megan this afternoon. Megan is too little to ride, of course, being only nearly 3, so she sat in one of those child seats on the back of her father's bike.

It had been at least 4 years since I sat my ass on a bicycle seat and I remembered how. Isn't it amazing, the things that our mind and body chooses to store memory of for long periods of time? Hmmm...who knows. Maybe bicycling will be the salvation of the world one day.

At any rate, it was really fun. I almost felt like a kid again riding along side my brother, racing a bit. :) I say almost because after about 20 minutes, my wrists began aching and my ass was sore from the seat. Yeah...I don't remember that sort of pain from bicycling when I was a kid. I just suppose that I'm just getting fucking old and my body can't take what it used to. Yes, friends. Another happy thought to close another happy blog. :)

Well, actually, I do have a bit of a somber note to add. One of my father's brother's, Harvey Elmer Garris, passed away this Tuesday night. Mom just told me tonight. It looks like the funeral is going to be Saturday and my Daddy needs me, so it looks like I'm going to pass up the weekend of Happy Magic Land fun I had planned. It was about time for another funeral anyway.

Steve and I reconciled at the Pistol Whippers show (www.pistolwhippers.com) this past Saturday night. He apologized, I apologized, and it's all good.

I had an excellent weekend with my sister, mom & dad, brother, sister-in-law, and niece. We had two days of cooking out and eating ridiculously wonderful food and just enjoying each other's company. I have such a wonderful family! :)

I'm supposed to start guitar lessons (again) next Tuesday with the guitarist who plays with Split Nixon, a local rock band. (www.splitnixon.com) He told me that he wouldn't make fun of me or show off like the last guy did, but who knows. I'm terribly defensive when it comes to learning something new. I threatened that I'd quit and he promised he wouldn't let me. We'll see.

It's raining tonight.

It reminds me of a Tori song lyric..."Girls you've got to know when it's time to turn the page. When you're only wet because of the rain."

Yeah, I feel like that today.

It was a beautiful evening. Sunny and warm in the sunlight, but in the shade the air was crisp and fresh. I went down to the little river front park in Saint Albans after work today. I just and sat watching the lazing sun turn the river into a wide ribbon of sparkling gold as it moved on it's journey behind the lush, green hills. It was so beautiful. The sky was a brilliant blue and the clouds were so white and contrasted against the sky that they seemed close enough to touch.

There I was surrounded in all of that beauty, but I felt painfully alone. I heard a rustling in the grass behind me and turned to find two ducks walking side by side. I was the only one alone at the park. Even the ducks kept companions. :)

So tonight I'm only wet because of the rain. And I'm really tired of being this lonely.

I suppose I fear that I'll never make the type of connection for which I am longing. Yeah, that scares me. And my fear is exacerbated by that feeling of lonely. And vice versa. Hmmm...what a nasty little place the human mind can be. The things we do to ourselves.