Inside Gigi's World

I was born in the year 1980-something. The actual year doesn’t really matter, just know that it was early enough in the 80s where I was able to have the best of both worlds.

I watched Saturday morning cartoons religiously. I used to have to change the channel by turning a nob on the television.

The WWF was filled with bad asses like The Ultimate Warrior and the Bushwhackers and I snapped into a Slim Jim because the Macho Man told me I should.

I learned how to ride a bike with those little neon beads on my tires, I wore jelly shoes until my feet were covered in blisters.

My most prized possession was a stuffed “Alf” doll that I used to push around in the wicker stroller my Aunt got for me for one of my birthdays instead of the lame baby dolls other little girls were playing with.

The Goonies and Monster Squad became my all time favorite movies, played obsessively until I could recite EVERY SINGLE LAST WORD, to the point no one wanted to watch them with me anymore.

Freddy Krueger made me not sleep until I was 10.

I believed every problem could be solved if I just listened to Mr. Miyagi.

I learned I wasn’t really “Hangin Tough” until Jordan Knight told me I was.

My idol was Cyndi Lauper and Jem (my parents wonder why I turned out the way I did)

I didn’t mind slicing the corners of my mouth open on those damn freezer pops and I could rock the hell out if my Strawberry Shortcake bathing suit.

Then came the 90s. With it, Middle School. I hated, no, no, no, I loathed, nope that word isn’t strong enough either. Let me think…..

Middle school was literally Hell on Earth. That awful brick building in that shifty ass miserable town, with some of the most awful people I have ever met in my life.

Ugh….

The only thing I looked forward to in those years was summertime. I only reprieve I got from the Hell that was my middle school life.

Every year once the weather started to get warm I knew 2 things for sure were coming. My Grandpa’s tomatoes and my Aunt Candy’s pool.

I looked forward to those tomatoes every year. They were the sweetest, biggest, juiciest tomatoes I have ever eaten.

He would bring bags of them to me throughout the summer. I could hear his big red work truck pull onto the street and I knew what that meant.

Tomatoes and salt.

Tomatoe and dressing.

Tomatoes like apples.

But my all time favorite was the tomato sandwiches my Mom used to make for me out of them. There were times when I would wake up for a midnight snack and that’s what I would eat.

Nothing fancy. Just some toast, salt and pepper, mayo and tomatoes.

I looked forward to those bags of tomatoes every summer and every year he brought them to me, even as a adult with a family of my own, until he got sick.

I never realized how much I would miss that or how I would never eat a tomato as sweet.

My Aunt Candy’s house somehow became the go to spot for everything.

Baby showers. Christmas. Birthdays. Graduations. Just because…..

I am pretty sure if my Uncle Jon realized that their house would have turned into that they would have bought a house with a smaller yard and skipped the pool altogether.

I am pretty sure all of us kids learned how to swim in that pool and now all of our kids have learned to swim in that pool too.

There has been countless meals there and J. goes into the garden and picks fresh pea pods and tomatoes like I did when I was a kid. She has also learned you have to do it when Uncle Jon isn’t looking, that way you won’t get in trouble for eating all of the pea pods.

The yard was always filled with Aunts and Uncles and cousins and grandparents. Food and shenanigans and older cousins who taught you how to puff up your bangs with aqua net and how to flick a lighter.

There were so many kids coming in and out of that place, you couldn’t even keep track if you tried. Then there was a small lull until we started spitting out kids of our own and it hasn’t stopped since.

We haven’t had a whole lot to look forward to this summer. It has been pretty quiet thanks to this Covid pandemic.

However J. and I have found excitement in tending to our little garden and plucking the tomatoes. I tell her stories about my Grandpa and his tomatoes and it makes me feel like he is still around. And she loves tomato sandwiches just as much as I do, so that’s always a plus.

We have also been lucky to still have the pool. We have been lucky to sti have our meals and listening to the kids laugh and run around like we used too. The only difference is I think we were better dressed.

We got pretty lucky in the whole “cousin” department. Sure, most of us are shit shows a lot of the time but how fun would it be if we had our shit together. I gove myself a high five when I just yell out the right kid’s name.

And although he acts like we drive him crazy, I am pretty sure Uncle Jon, now known fondly as Papa Jon, likes having us there more then he lets on. I mean, life would be pretty quiet a d boring without us and who really likes quiet ?