We unloaded a mountain of bags and food into our camper, and Sibs and I headed for a mystical EPCOT experience as the kids headed for paddleboats at the corral, or whatever they call it. It poured on our way there � who knew it rains every afternoon in Florida in August? � and everyone was soaked, but we walked past the EPCOT gardens on our way in and felt like we were home and it was cool.The ultimate planner, I knew where we were going each day, and on which rides in which order. Mostly, everyone had always gone along with this, and they still did. The more people in your group, though, the harder it is. Food was always a challenge, since J2 had to eat when he had to, so we had a lot of sit-down meals. Did someone say B U D G E T ?
R began to be annoyed that no one would go on the rides she wanted to go on, even after they promised, and that she couldn�t have Lucky Charms for breakfast.
The J twins sweetly managed to find time when they could go off on their own, leaving their cousins behind, so they could find someplace to smoke. (They told us years later.) R became more annoyed.
I began to feel that Sibs and the J twins were twisting us around their little fingers, and that my kids were making no choices and their cousins were making them all. Sibs always took their side (they are her kids, after all), reminding us that since J2 had diabetes and therefore a raw deal in life, we should all give him what he wanted. I grew annoyed.
K, in the meantime, became the sweetest kid on earth, got along great with everyone, never asked for or demanded a thing, and has remained that way until this day. Go figure.
But we were okay. We got caught in driving rain about a dozen times, found a frog in our bathroom and tried to get it out (did you see the scene with the lobsters in Annie Hall?), and came up with about a million in-jokes that we all still tell to this day. (J2 is the biggest one. I had to put it in.) We took a great group picture with The Mouse in his dressing room that hangs on the wall in each house, in Jack�s apartment, and in each kid�s bedroom or dorm room.
Weird, you want to hear weird? They say that when women spend time together in a group, they all get their periods at the same time. Well, Sibs had just had a hysterectomy a few months earlier, so she was out. One by one, I, then J3, then R all succumbed to the group curse. And I thought, oh s�t, this isn�t good. The day we got home, on the way home actually, K got hers for the first time. Not that I hadn�t seen it coming soon, even though she was only 10 years old, but I knew that she couldn�t escape, not with all of us together like that.
I�ve been back twice since. In 1998, Sibs and I took the 5-year anniversary trip, and then in 2000, I went with the three girls. Sibs stayed home to keep an eye on Shirl, but I needed to go, and she said go. I went with my three girls, I kept saying, as J3 is my god-daughter as well as niece. Their ages were at this point 17, 20, and 23. We are all four of us about the same height and general size, and coloring (which is intriguing to me, that these girls and Sibs and I all resemble each other so now). I don�t plan each day down to the inch anymore. It was a very good trip, relaxing and fun, although god-awful hot. But we caught the magic, so it was great. And no sneaking off to smoke anymore; the four of us just lit up together when we felt like it.
I wish I could live on Main Street. I love everything when I�m there.
