I Really Need To Grow Up
I was reading through a travel journal I kept on a trip around the country my family took when I was 10 and thought I’d share a few excerpts:
“We went to McDonald’s for breakfast. I had hotcakes & sausage.”
“We went to a nearby KOA campground to their drug store and I got a lot of comics.”
“The Grand Canyon was beautiful. The shades of rock were pretty colors. The length could make you sick.”
“The Petrified Forest was nothing like we expected. All it was was wood everywhere, no forest or trees.”
“We were right next to a waterslide. We went on it for an hour. I somehow always ended up going backwards. When we were supposed to get out I kept going for a 1/2 hour. I could’ve gone longer but I figured I better get home.”
“The arcade was gnarly. Today I got 2 or 3 free pinball games. Lucky me.”
“I got over 100,000 on a soccer pinball game. I also got 3 free games to play. I’m having a lucky streak.”
“The pool had a slide and diving board. The game room was gnarly.”
“We were all getting a bit cranky. While everyone set up, John and I had to stay in the car. What a bummer.” (Note: for the life of me, I can’t figure out why that was a bummer).
“The other day I played the funniest joke on Jodi…”
“John met 3 friends, 2 were total babes.”
All the identification information was filled in except for my weight and I abandoned the journal after just two weeks. Basically, what I learned from reading this and checking out the pictures is that, other than declaring myself a Christian and showing some maternal instincts in keeping my first smurf warm while I froze my ass off on top of the Empire State Building, I haven’t changed all that much since I was 10.
I have my diary from 1970-75 (age 10 to 15). I was obsessed with boys and exercising. Any trip I took would have omitted the scenery and commented on the hot grocer boy, or toll taker, or any member of the opposite sex.