Summers Are For Vacations...

Which led me to think about our "One and Only Zimmermann Family Vacation" growing up. When you have 7 kids, vacations are non-existent. Growing up in a neighborhood full of large families, no one took vacations. I don't ever remember a family taking off in the good ole' station wagon for a week. I don't think anyone could afford it. In fact, I never saw an ocean until I was about 28.

On to the story. We were lucky (although mom and Ruth Self might have begged to differ) that dad and
Elmer had a friend with a cabin on the Merimac River. We took off with the Self family for a weekend. Although the drive couldn't have been more than an hour---two at the most---it seemed like a long drive. Especially since we had to stop along the side of the highway so one of 13 kids could go to the bathroom---hidden between the two open car doors. With that many kids, we made several stops. The Self's had a station wagon. We had dad's fire engine red Buick Electra (his company car). 5 kids sat in back, I had the middle up front---privilege of being the oldest---Joyce on mom's lap. Cars were huge back then, no seat belts to contend with, so 5 could fit in the back. Now, my memory isn't totally clear on this. Joyce may not have been born yet which would reduce the total number of kids to 12. I think I was going in to the 7th grade which would have made me 12. I'm 13 years older than Joyce which would mean, mom was 7 or 8 months pregnant with her. That makes this trip even worse for mom.

I don't think mom and Ruth were given the full picture of how rustic this cabin was---1 bedroom with no indoor plumbing or running water. And no stove! They had to boil water on a 2 burner hot plate to wash dishes. It took forever to get the water to boil. It was hot, fly filled and there were tons of mosquitoes, but we kids had a ball. Right outside was a shallow, rocky part of the Merimac. We kids went off exploring everywhere. In those days, we were allowed to do that. Our parents never knew where we were or what we were doing. That's the year I almost drowned. To this day, I never told mom.

We kids found a deeper, wider, faster flowing section of the river. We were just playing around, skipping rocks, exploring, swimming around (we all knew how to swim)---just typical kids stuff. I got caught in the current that was pulling me downstream towards a waterfall. I wasn't panicked as I knew how to swim. But, I couldn't swim against the current. Thank God, Tim Self realized what was happening. He was able to grab hold of my arm from the edge of the current and yank me out. Disaster averted. For all I know, my siblings might have been mad at him---their only chance to get rid of bossy, me.

We continued on with our adventures. The parents were fishing for "crawdads" (crawfish) with liver tied to the end of a string. I don't remember much else about the trip but, it rained that night and the roof of the cabin leaked all over. It was one huge hassle for mom and Ruth. Maybe that's why we never got to go back. But from a kid's perspective, it was the greatest trip ever. I guess it would be since it was the ONLY trip!

What was your first vacation memory? Write it down somewhere or better yet, scrapbook it!