Memories

When I was a littler N then I am now, my sister and I used to spend our summer weekends lounging around the swimming pool at our Dad’s apartment. We would eat cantaloupe and sliced up hot dogs as she worked on her tan and I, the baby sister, would bug her to come swim with me. I would never, ever, go in the water by myself. I firmly believed, as I had been taught by my sister that if I go in the pool alone the great white shark will come out of his secret compartment and get me. Eat me! You see the way that it works is if anyone else is in the pool, anyone at all, the shark will be too shy and will stay put because of course he only wants me (I must have been a tasty morsel). I can’t fault my sister for this phobia because she believed in the shark too. Now years later, even as a marine biologist, I take a second glance around for sea monsters when I hop into an empty pool....and you should too.

My family went on vacation one year up to a place called Alisal Ranch near Solvang, I must have been about 12 at the time. I was excited; my parents took us on some cool trips growing up. So, right after we got there I was chomping at the bit to go exploring with my older sister who was about 15, once we got settled my mom told us to be careful, not to get into any trouble and be back in an hour. It was a great place full of big trees, Blue Jays flying from oak to oak and a nice little creek running through the ranch, we wandered over to this footbridge that crossed the shallow creek and while my sister was looking for frogs or tadpoles down by the bank, I noticed this metal pipe coming out of the dirt running along the path by the bridge it was about a foot off the ground and pretty long maybe 20 feet. It looked like it would be fun to jump on, which I did shouting at my sister how much fun it was and to come join me bouncing on this pipe, which somewhere in the back of my mind I knew fell into the "don’t get into trouble" category of my mother’s request. About 5 seconds after I called to my sister, the pipe broke open at this 90 degree “L” joint and I was showered with water pretty much head to toe, mind you I was wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt, it was later in the afternoon and I want to say it was Fall because there were leaves all over the ground and it wasnt that warm. I happen to be jumping on the exposed sprinkler line for the golf course. It scared the crap out of me cause I knew I was about to get in so much trouble for breaking the pipe I was sure they were going to make my parents pay for the repair, or ask us to leave, I was really upset. After my sister got done laughing at me and teasing me, telling me how much trouble I was going to be in, I almost couldn’t breath I thought I was going to spend the entire vacation in the hotel room, then my big sis looked over at me and said "we'll just tell mom you fell into the creek, you dork." At that moment I knew she'd always have my back and to this day my parents think I fell into that creek.

At a very young age, before I really knew the concept of "home" (probably because we were always somewhere new) I found myself in the middle of a tropical paradise - Puerto Rico. With my mother tending to my baby sister, and the rest of the adults doing their adult-things, I would follow the other kids, especially my young cousins who seemed much freer than I. They tried desperately to teach me to do a headstand (of which I was certain would lead to a dislocated head) and converted me to running everywhere barefoot. We would run around to honey bee hives, smearing the sweetness all over our faces and chewing up the comb like gum, tumble down grassy hills and sneak around watching the adults and older kids. There was always one place though, that I had only heard stories of and dared not enter -- the forest. Looking back, perhaps it could have been a grove of trees, but even now I can still see the looming dark foliage and the shadowy dirt path leading in. I don't know what possessed me to follow C into the grove, but the whole way in he kept telling me to be careful because of the giant rats that would attack if we made too much noise. I tiptoed in and kept my eyes big and my ears open. I could hear little noises from the canopy of leaves above, most seemed tame enough - birds. C, who had gone a bit ahead would look back with a mischievous look in his eyes. Eventually C's quite look turned into the making of loud noises and running off to leave me terrified at the shaking of the leaves all around me. I couldn't go back (I was too far in), so the tiptoes grew quicker and my eyes grew bigger - until I saw them - EYES, looking back at me from inside bushes and trees! BIG BLACK AND WHITE EYES! That is when the rats chased me. I can tell you as a certainty that they were giant black rats - almost the size of my 6 year body, and that I didn't just run - I FLEW out of the forest and all the way back to the house!