Growing up Hollis – Page 5 – The View from Lajeune

R U Social?

Back in the day, when I was growing up in Groton, CT, to be “social” meant something other than what I think it means today. Correct me if I’m wrong but here’s what I think: back in the day being social meant that you had a certain number of friends or people who you would actually hang out with in person, socialize with, do things with, etc. Today being “social” means having a certain number of social media “friends” or “followers” that “like” you and that you communicate online with, having a certain number of social media accounts, spending more time with your mobile devices then with each other, and posting photos about what you are doing while you are doing it and sending the “pix” online to your “followers” even before you are finished doing it. I have my hand up as I’m guilty of it (see my blog post: An Apple a day…). For instance, at home I am never too far away from my iPhone, my iPad or my MacBook Pro – clearly I’m an Apple fan – but it’s exhausting and sometimes I just want to retreat to a quiet place where there is no WI-FI or so-called “friends” to “follow” me…

I’m not a “social media butterfly” i.e., someone who is always connected to social media sites, constantly giving updates, but rarely socialize with any of these “friends” or “followers” in real life. I connect with people in “real life” as well as on-line, hence where the exhaustion sets in. So this weekend I am taking a break, un-plugging, un-wiring and getting back to basics. Life without the internet. Let’s see how long I last…wish me luck!

Sincerely,

TVFL

My VDay BDay

I was born in a blizzard on Valentine’s Day in 1962. While growing up my mother always told me it was the worst blizzard Newport Rhode Island had ever seen..so I literally just now looked it up. The closest news item I could find was from WPRI-TV 12 which reported that the year 1962 had the snowiest winter on record with 30.1 inches…so yeah, I’m officially a ‘blizzard baby.’

Having a birthday on Valentine’s Day is a double-edged sword. But when I was little girl growing up in Groton, CT, it was not that big of a deal. Here’s why:

We Hollis kids always had our birthday celebrations on the closest Saturday to our birth date. My sister Casandra’s birthday fell on the 24th of February so we would celebrate both of our birthdays on one of the Saturdays in between both of our dates. My parents had 7 children so this was the most efficient and effective way to celebrate. So consequently I never really focused on the actual day or date, just the month of February, and I was fine with that. After dinner (where our mother would cook our favorite meal!) me and Casandra would also have our own individual cakes and ice cream. My cake was vanilla with red frosting (courtesy of food coloring!) I usually had vanilla ice cream. Casandra’s cake was strawberry with pink frosting and strawberry ice cream. We would blow out our candles, eat our cake and ice cream, unwrap the gifts and spend the rest of the night playing with our new gifts. I always felt extra special though because each and every year of my actual birth date, until I was 18, my mother would give me a small, heart-shaped box of chocolates. My mother is no longer alive so I still get tears in my eyes when I see a heart-shaped box of chocolates on my birthday…

Here is a picture of me (in blue with the cute little birthday hat) and my sister Casandra (Standing with balloon in hand) celebrating our 4th and 8th birthdays with my older brother Michael (seated behind me) and my younger brother Shawn (with frosting on his face) (smile).

Shawn with the frosting, Casandra with the blue balloon, me with the birthday hat and Michael trying to be seen (smile)

At Mary Morrison Elementary School in Groton, CT, Valentine’s Day was not just my birthday, it was an event.

We were asked by our home room teacher to purchase enough Valentine’s Day cards to hand out to each and every one of our classmates. This would ensure that nobody was left out on this holiday celebrating love. Me and my classmates got around this by handing out the bigger Valentines to our faves!

Nowadays Valentine’s Day has morphed into such a massive Hallmark holiday that I feel as if my birthday pales in comparison (smile). Also it feels waaaaaay too commercial to me. You can’t walk or drive anywhere in the month of February, in advance of the holiday, without being bombarded with big mylar balloons, chocolates, candies, roses, greeting cards, jewelry store specials, restaurant dinner specials, retail gift items, etc. You would truly have to live under a rock to not know that February 14th is Valentine’s Day (smile).

As an adult I have so gotten used to the usual remarks concerning my birthday from: ‘Oh, you’re so lucky, you get 2 gifts, right?’ to: Oh, you’re not lucky at all! Your gifts are probably rolled into one…’

No matter, I celebrate in my own way. For instance every year me and my girls (Gina, Thais, Sherry) celebrate our respective birthdays together over dinner (usually Japanese cuisine for mine) the night of, or closest Saturday night to, the birth date. We’ve been doing this for over 20 years and we are all in our 50’s now so it’s always a good time.

Me and my partner James have had some memorable Vday/Bday celebrations together – most recently was in the Dominican Republic when we (with a bunch of other travelling vacationers) were on a catamaran party boat on our way to a day trip on the private island of Salinas…that was special…here we are in New Haven, CT at one of my favs, Cast Iron Steakhouse and Oyster Bar

And I always make a point of taking my birthday off from work every year as this day is much too special to me to spend it working…Besides, I’d much rather pamper myself that day (hair/nails/feet/facial/back massage), etc.

I’m turning 54 this year and my upcoming BDay/VDay falls on a Sunday so I have not yet decided if I will take that next day (Monday) off…we shall see.

So happy Valentine’s Day everyone! And let’s make this year more about the presence and less about the presents...

Sincerely,

TVFL

My Very First Bug…

I think, and this is just a thought, that everyone from my generation has, or knows someone who has, a Bug story.

This is my story. I grew up in the small town of Groton, CT (latest population: 40,000) The town of Groton was a great place to raise families in as it appeared, back then, that everyone was married with children. My parents had seven children (5 girls, 2 boys) so if we couldn’t find anyone to play with, we always had each other.

When I turned 16 I decided that not only did I need a license, but also a car to get around in. Groton was not known for public transportation so you really needed either your own car or access to one to get from point A to point B as everything, and I mean everything, was spread out.

As much as I wanted to get my license at age 16, I wound up getting it at age 17 as outdoor track practice got in the way of Drivers Education. Yes, Driver’s Ed, as it was called, was “free” back then and part of the high school curriculum. I recall having 6 hours of instructional behind-the-wheel activity but needing 9. I also recall having the hardest time doing a Y turn and being terrified at the prospect of driving over the Gold Star Memorial bridge.

I took my state of CT license exam in the town of Old Saybrook, CT as I heard the driving test there was soooooooo easy and did not require Y turns. Consequently, I passed with flying colors. With license in hand, it was now time to find a car.

I had saved a whopping $800 from working part-time at Bonanza Steak House restaurant so I felt rich :)) My father was ‘out to sea’ so I convinced my older sister to take me to a used car dealership to purchase my first car. I had no idea what I wanted to buy, just that it had to look good and have a nice radio…

I was so impatient back then! I was on a mission to purchase a car that Saturday afternoon and neither Hell nor high water could get in my way. I don’t remember actually test driving anything, all I know is that I saw this Bug on the lot that looked like “me” and was completely sold on it. It was silver blue, a little beat up looking, an “automatic standard” which is an automatic car with a stick shift, and possessed a ‘new car’ smell. I fell in love and had to have it.

I talked the salesman, Frank, down to $700, signed the paperwork, and was asked to come back the following weekend to pick up my ‘new’ Bug.

My first red flag appeared while I was driving it off the lot the following week: it chugged and sputtered all the way home…

My second red flag was that I had to feed it oil on a regular basis. And then the majority of the oil wound up on our driveway…

My third red flag: my Bug could only go up to 60 miles per hour before the whole car started shaking…

I had clearly been had. And I aged that Summer – suddenly I was no longer 17, I felt like I was 25, or worse 30, with real life problems. My thought: if I got rid of the car, I could have my carefree teenage life back…

So I ditched the car as quickly as I could. I sold it to a junk dealer for a song and went back to being a teenager…life was good, once again…

Sincerely,

TVFL

Clams on the half shell…and roller-skates!

I am truly a Child of the 70’s. I was born in a blizzard in Newport, Rhode Island on Valentine’s day in 1962. So I really came of age in the 70’s. Which is why, to this day, the 70s is my favorite decade of music to listen to in my car on Sirius radio. Growing up, I loved listening to music on my 8 track player. Because of my eclectic tastes in music, I could be listening to the sounds of Motown, Earth Wind and Fire, Chicago, Boston, Chic, Zeppelin and/or GQ.

My sisters sported Bell Bottoms and tie-dye t-shirts. Huge afros with picks in the middle were our hair style of choice. My favorite color in clothes was blue because my mom said so and the only adult conversation I was privy to was when I had my ear against the hall door during one of my parents couples-only parties at home.

During the summers which were sooooooo long back then, l played with my Dawn doll, went rollerskating for long periods of time and ate Little Debbie’s, washing them down with cold whole milk. Me, my brothers and sisters and the neighborhood kids kept busy with games of kick-ball in the middle of the street we grew up on ’till the lights came on. Neighbors were friendly then and you didn’t mind borrowing sugar from them.

Back then, children were seen and not heard, telephones were connected to the wall and had long cords that we could carry into a closet if we needed privacy. Walking home alone from school was not a problem and pets (our dog) ate right from the table and were never walked. Our male dachshund would sometimes disappear for days at a time and we never worried that he would not come back.

Vacations consisted of us all piling up in the oversized two-toned family station wagon and going to visit ‘the cousins’ in Newport, Rhode Island or my father’s side of the family in Newark, New Jersey or Niagara Falls, New York.

Those were the days…

With 2 parents and 7 kids in the house, Halloween was an event. We would dress up, take our own pillow sack (flimsy plastic bags would not do!) out into the neighborhood and gather as much candy as we could carry home. Once home, our mother would put all of the chocolates into separate containers for freezing and then store the rest of the candy into places unknown to us. We were literally eating candy for the next 6 months. The dentists had to love us!

I would not trade my childhood for the world. Having a stay-at-home mom and a traditional dad allowed me to reap the benefits that I am still enjoying to this day. Good times!

Sincerely,

TVFL

Yikes! Has it really been 35 years since high school?!??

I feel like pinching myself because tonight I am going to my 35th High School Reunion! I still can’t believe it because I remember my mother mentioning her 35th High School reunion to me when I was a child and me thinking how old everyone there would be! Now I know better…we are all 53 but I must say that I truly believe that 50 is the new 40 in terms of health and well-being.

Here’s a picture of us when we were still in high school:

I’m looking forward to reconnecting with old friends and getting contact information from those I have completely lost touch with. I’ve attended my 5th, 10th and 15th high school reunions so this is not completely new to me. We did not have a 20th and I inadvertently missed the 25th. There was not a 30th either so this will be the first time I have seen my classmates since I was 33! 20 years ago – unbelievable, as time has truly flown by.

The event takes place at the Groton Elks Lodge on Shennecossett Road in Groton. There will be a relaxing sit down BBQ Chicken dinner, cash bar, late night pizza, dancing and music by Next Level Entertainment featuring 80s music since we graduated in 1980. Looking forward to a good time!

Me and Bonnie and Sherry — my former track buddies

Happy faces after eating!

Memory Lane pix!

Me and Linda Cady – my February bday twin!

Our delicious keepsake which I ate! Ooops! As you can see, I had a very good time and was so glad that I went.

Category: Growing up Hollis

R U Social?

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My VDay BDay

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My Very First Bug…

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Clams on the half shell…and roller-skates!

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Yikes! Has it really been 35 years since high school?!??

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