My Easter basket was a big tall yellow plastic thing. I'd finished looking upstairs and I made my way down to the basement, where we had a second refrigerator and a freezer in one of the rooms.
I want to say I found it on top of the refrigerator, behind a couple boxes of cereal, but...I can't be certain. And I'm not sure if I was too young and short for that to be a "mean" hiding place, or if I was tall enough to at least consider it a possibility, and maybe pull a chair over and stand on it to check on top of the fridge.
Anyway...all my rambling is leading to the fact that it was somewhere near that fridge. Either on top or inside or next to, or...you get the idea. That much I remember.
And when I found it, I put it on the concrete floor and knelt down in front of it, rummaging through the fake green plastic grass to see what candy treats the Easter Bunny brought me. (I think I was old enough at that point where I didn't believe in the Easter Bunny anymore.)
I think each year one of the things in my basket was a two-piece plastic bunny filled with candy...and you had to pop off the bunny's head to get it.
But this particular year, along with the chocolate goodies and malted milk eggs...there was a small white cardboard card with rounded corners, maybe about twice the size of a credit card, and on it in my mom's flawless printing, it said...
"Gregg is wished a Happy Easter and a summer of fun at the Family Swim Club!"
That was the community pool across the street from my house. And that unofficial membership card was the beginning of quite a few summers of many...oh, so many...hours spent at that pool.
One of my favorite Easter memories.
"In matters of principles,
stand like a rock.
In matters of taste,
swim with the current."
—Thomas Jefferson
stand like a rock.
In matters of taste,
swim with the current."
—Thomas Jefferson
Put those three words together... FAMILY....SWIM....CLUB.. and I'm hit with a tidal wave (pun intended) of memories. Is that joint still open and functional? I also spent eons there, the lion's share of my youth when not at JF Magee.
ReplyDeleteGood lord, I hope I didn't jump on your head back then, dude. I was famous for leaping without looking in the deep end, obnoxious twit that I was.
A quick memory... Ross Rememker used to crack me up by filling his goggles up with water and then walking around with magnified bug eyes, freaking the girls out. Brilliant comic mind, that one.
An Easter aside... did you know this time of the year is most lethal for us Jews? See, you guys hate getting all that Easter candy so you fob it off on us. Which I, being a good Jew, readily accept and devour wholeheartedly.
Man I love this time of year! Have a good holiday sir!
Family Swim Club = 99% of my summer memories.
ReplyDeleteYes, Jeff, it is still open. Somehow smaller though, but otherwise exactly as we left it. I returned last year to watch my children do what I spent millions of hours doing in those endless summers. Talk about life coming full circle.
Well done Ggg. Hope you had a nice Easter!