When I was growing up, I was really close to my cousins. I didn't have brothers or sisters, so they were it for me. Getting to spend the whole week with them at the beach was tremendous fun for me.
I have always been a pretty cautious person. I'm not the one to volunteer for high-risk-of-injury type situations. But around these guys? Danger never crossed my mind.
When we were at the beach, we had an unspoken game that we played. Who was the strongest of our group? We would do things like standing on the rope in the pool that divided the deep end with the shallow end and see who could push each other off. My family is very competitive, so this stuff was serious business.
The dumbest thing we did was to stand in the ocean where the waves were breaking and see who could refrain from being knocked down. Now that I look back on it, it seems even more stupid. You don't mess with the ocean. It will always win any strength contests.
We would stand there forever, letting the salt water poor into our ears and nose and mouth. None of us would break down and give up. Even when one of us would be knocked down, we would get right back up and stand there again.
At the end of the day, we were forced by our parents to come inside. We would be all bruised and battered. From just standing.
If we weren't competing for strength, we were playing cards. Violently. Slap Jack and Spoons took whole new meanings with the introduction of sharp rings and fingernails.
I'm guessing this year will be different now that we've grown up a bit. We're still competitive, but I think we can manage not to cause physical harm to one another. I'll be pulling the pregnancy card - just in case.
(BTW - Daily Post Prewritten - I'm on Vacation!)
No comments:
Post a Comment