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We rented a small cottage on the
Albemarle Sound
one summer. This was a real treat for me and my girls
because most if not all of our vacations were ball
trips because my husband played fast pitch soft ball
every summer for many years. We always made it to the
Regionals and they were played in various places.
When the girls were old enough we would always follow
my husbands team wherever they played. It was always
fun staying at the motels and playing in the pools.
I finally talked him into a real vacation. No
ball, just fishing from our nice boat or water skiing
when I finally learned how. So packed and ready off we
went with cries of "Are we there yet?" just when we
had turned the corner but for the most part the girls
were very good.
When we arrived, we all helped Daddy carry in the
groceries and our clothes. Later, Dad took the boat
out and tied it to a pole out in the water. He didn't
sleep very well ,worrying about that boat in the
water. But next morning it was still there and we all
donned our bathing suits and walked out into the
sound.
It seemed like we could walk a mile out there without
getting up to our waists in the water. Daddy had to
finally pick up our little one, Lisa, and put her into
the boat. Our oldest, Sherry, was tall enough to make
it on her own. We stayed out in the water most of the
day and had a great time. I would pull Doug, my
husband, on the skies and he pulled me.
We brought the boat back in and headed to our little
cottage to have dinner. When we started to open the
door, Sherry screamed that she saw a little snake.
Lisa made me carry her until she was sure it wasn't a
snake but a lizard. It was a harmless little lizard
that immediately was named, Larry the Lizard and he
became ours for the duration of our stay.
Each morning we would find him sunning himself on the
front steps and if we got too close he would scurry
away. Neither one of the girls wanted to pick him up
nor neither did I. He was a very easy pet to care
for. We tried to feed him but nothing we had seemed to
interest him so we left him to his own devices.
I hate bugs, really I do, I hate them with a passion.
And so we were very careful to keep the door closed
and to check the window so mosquitoes could not get
in. We slept soundly for the first few nights of our
trip. Until one evening, some friends of my husband's
came down to visit us. They had a trailer and their
boat down the road a bit. They brought an ice cream
maker and we put it on the screened in porch and
plugged it in with all the ingredients for a good
bucket of homemade ice cream.
These friends had two young boys, actually two young
heathens who did not know the meaning of the word,
"NO" and so in and out they would go leaving the
screen door ajar with each exit. I was seething. We
had our ice cream, more like pudding, not enough ice
and not enough rock salt. We all said our good nights
and I cleaned up the mess and headed for bed.
The girls had already had their baths and were in bed
and when I joined my husband in bed, I heard a buzzzz
and I jumped up and hollered "mosquitoes" and pulled
the sheet over my head.
My husband says "it won't kill you, Nanci, go to
sleep"
I replied that I could not sleep with mosquitoes in my
room.
About that time the girls started shouting about the
mosquitoes and my husband is up and looking for a fly
swatter or a rolled up newspaper. He was swatting all
over the place, jumping on the bed, following the
buzzzz wherever it went. He was killing the wretched
mosquitoes as fast as he could. All he wanted was a
good night's sleep.
The girls were huddled in their beds with a sheet over
their heads and I was doing the same. I don't know
what the head count was that last evening in our
cottage but when Doug finally got to bed, he was
exhausted from all the running, swatting and jumping.
I said a quiet "thank you" and hoped we would be able
to have a nice rest. I heard him snoring and knew he
was deep in sleep. And then I heard a buzzzz just one
but he was out there, so I pulled the sheet over my
head and then it was quiet, no more buzzz so I went to
sleep.
The next morning as we were packing the trunk to
leave, Larry the Lizard came scurrying out of our
screen door and I mentioned to my husband that our pet
had spent the night inside our house. He said that was
good because Lizards eat mosquitoes. I didn't know
that. If I had known that I would have invited Larry
to spend all of our vacation inside with us. And we
would not have had the night of hell with my husband
jumping all over the place killing mosquitoes.
All in all it was a nice vacation away from the hustle
and bustle of the city near the quiet of the sea
shore. The children enjoyed the water, I learned to
water ski for the first time and we became acquainted
with a lizard we named Larry who basked in the sun
during the days and guarded our little cottage during
the night killing mosquitoes. What a nice vacation
even though the ice cream was soupy and the company
let the mosquitoes in. Thank goodness for Larry the
Lizard and of course my husband leaping through the
air.
Nanci is still writing stories of her fun times and of
her childhood. She enjoys reading the stories that
others write. Saturday she will turn 63 and hopes to
celebrate with her husband, her daughters and her six
grandchildren and maybe even a couple of her special
friends. Life is so fragile, ya'll take care and
handle it with care. God bless each of you.
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