Welcome Summer

Summer is officially here which arouses mixed feelings in me because I always seem to come down with a serious manic episode midway through the summer and have previously had to have been hospitalized. Luckily  I’ve avoided that the last few years.  Here are some things summer means to me:

• Looking good in a bathing suit. I have never worn a thong bathing suit and I don’t think I ever will. But I do wear bathing suits that show generous amounts of cleavage. Thats my revenge

• A parade of bug bites up and down my legs because  I love sitting outside by the fire pits while mosquitoes and  chiggers (it’s a bug. Look it up. Or don’t because it’s kind of gross) simply feast on me. Chiggers particularly love the ankles.

• July 4th which always means alot to me because it is my sobriety date. They even set off fireworks for me.

• I fall asleep listening to the sound of my fan. It’s kind of like being rocked to sleep emotionally. 

• Day trips to the Jersey shore. I don’t really like swimming anymore but I like relaxing on a blanket while my family plays chess intensely and passes around bags  of pretzels. My mom knows I don’t really like sandwiches so she packs sushi for me to eat.

In the past summer meant:

• The summer I turned eleven my mom went on a trip to Florida to visit her cousins and I went nuts. Okay there is a more appropriate way to say that. I had the biggest OCD flareup and since I hadn’t been diagnosed yet my dad was very worried. He was relieved when my mom came home even though she was just as worried as him

• I bought practically all the Camp Confidential books from Amazon that same summer. I think my parents felt so sorry for me that they just let me do whatever I wanted. 

• We used to visit our family farmhouse in the summer. I have so many memories there. Sadly we had to sell the house which was ramshackle to say the least. We continue to own a good bit of land up there and we have been debating about campers and trailers and even building a tiny home.

• I used to go to theater camp. I did six shows: Cinderella, Oklahoma, Once On This Island, The Wiz, Suessical and Grease. We would put each of these shows together in two weeks. It was not easy but the director (Amy) was very talented and she knew how to whip us into shape. My favorite show to do was Grease because a) leather jacket b) got to play a boy c) got to sit on a car. 

Here is what I look forward to exploring this summer:

• I want to start some new programs for the residents. That includes scrapbooking, creative nonfiction writing and different types of poetry. 

• I want to try more established writers like Michael Crichton, Robin Cook, Stephen King (even though I couldn’t finish The Stand), John Grisham, and Lisa Scottoline

• Win a poetry slam. Or at least place second.