Temper, meet brick wall.....

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

My Best Summer Memory

Welcome to the Is It Summer Yet? Blog hop. Thank you to Queer Town Abbey for inviting me! I'm always happy to be a part of stuff like this. This time they want us to talk about our Best summer memory.  Then the task was to go through and find one that I can talk about that is PG - lol - just playing.


But seriously, growing up I didn't have family vacations like most other kids. I lived in a third world country, on a hill, having to carry water from the river to that hill top for cooking, cleaning etc, carrying drinking water from a public pipe that was a good hour and a half walk from my house and all that. It wasn't easy growing up in Jamaica but it was worse being poor. Because we seemingly had one season (though we have all four there it's just a warm place so no snow) we did the same things all year round, school, church, chores then do it all over again. The closest we came to vacation was one year my birth father told me if I saved enough money he would take me to the beach. I wound up saving all my lunch money, going hungry for lunch (my father never knew I was not having my lunch) by the end of the school year I had close to two thousand dollars (Jamaican). Back then, two thousand was a lot of money.

Fast forward a year after that and I moved to Canada. When the first summer came, I was able to go to
New York and spend time with my aunt. Spending time with my aunt wasn't the best part, the best part was I got to go to New York! Now, you have to understand. I was born on a small island, lived in a small town and all that good stuff. Then I moved to Canada and Toronto blue my mind until I went to New York and the Greyhound pulled through Times Square at night.

It was my first time in city and it was around one of the many times that CATS was on Broadway.  I remember the excitement as school was coming to a close. I studied extra hard because I didn't want to fail anything and had to go to summer school. Though the only thing I ever failed was Math because quite honestly, I HATE Math because I wasn't any good at it.  Gladly, I passed everything, even pulled off a B+ in Math and three weeks later, I was sitting on a Greyhound bus (because I have this um thing about flying) and 14 hours later, we were rolling through Times Square in the wee hours of the morning.

So why is this my best summer memory?

Before that summer, I'd never travelled anywhere but from Jamaica to live in Canada. Going to the United States was so far out of my league. I used to watch movies and see all these people in the Big Apple, with the billboards and the lights and the traffic and the cabs--you watch fancy people walk to the curb, lift a hand in the air and yell "TAXI!" and instantly a yellow car pulls up before you (which was so cool! I did it a two years ago!). I didn't care that I wasn't flying there or that I'd only be there for a week. I made use of those days from going to see a play on Broadway, to eating authentic New York pizza and cheesecake. It was one of the best vacations I ever had!

Now for something really cool! Win a copy of the best selling DELIVER ME by commenting below!  And please, continue on the blog hop because Queer Town Abbey has some awesome prizes that you could win!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

*hugs*
Remmy Duchene






19 comments:

  1. Aruba was the best vacation ever because the whole family went son& wife , her mother and father, sister and the kids.

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  2. I haven't been to NYC in years, and I've always wanted to see Toronto!

    vitajex(at)aol(Dot)com

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  3. I'm loving the little glimpses of memories you are all sharing. Thanks for participating in the hop!

    Kris Linehan
    simondex68@gmail dot com

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  4. I love family trips to the beach during summertime.
    rockybatt@gmail.com

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  5. Summer vacations with my parents when I was a kid. As an adult, 2 of my 3 kids are summer babies.

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  6. Ah, I haven't had the opportunity to travel very much myself, but I was an avid reader of British murder mysteries when growing up, so you can imagine my excitement when I finally got to go to the UK a few years ago. I was so excited just to be standing on English dirt, so I can just picture how you felt about that week in NYC. :-)

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  7. Going to the US and Canada and Jamaica is still only dream for me. :)

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    Replies
    1. I am hoping to hit Jamaica this winter coming! It's gonna be awesome lol

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  8. Aww, I really love your post!! I love New York City, & when I first went there I was in awe of everything. It's one of my favorite places to go, & I love getting to see a play there when I can,... & I always have to get a piece of cheesecake from Juniors(It's the best!) lol.

    Thank you for sharing your memory with us, & Thank you for having this giveaway!!

    I hope you have a great week! =)

    Brandi
    BLeigh1130 at yahoo dot com

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    Replies
    1. Hi Brandi,
      I just sent your prize to your email, congrats and thanks for participating!

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  9. New York is one of the few cities where I can bear to be for more than a couple of days - so much to see and do and absorb! Great post.

    Anna
    annabutlerfiction@gmail.com

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  10. I grew up on Long Island and we would go into the city for school trips. Imagine letting a bunch of 15 year olds loose for 2 hours alone.

    Thanks for the giveaway!

    jasdarts at hotmail.com

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  11. Summers were always spent at my aunt and uncles house which was only a couple of miles from the beach we seem to have spent nearly the whole fortnight at the beach.

    ShirleyAnn@speakman40.freeserve.co.uk

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  12. running around the neighborhood with my friends. esseboo@yahoo.com

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  13. I always enjoy hearing about life in other countries, and this was very interesting, Remmy. Thank you for sharing that. My first time in NYC was pretty similar -- and I grew up near a big city! That place is just universally overwhelming.

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  14. Looking back over the years, I have had some really great summer memories. Traveling cross country in 1972 with my parents and brother in an R.V. ( gas was only around 0.50 gal). Traveling to Spain in 1987 with my mom for 3 weeks ( college class tour). Canada and Niagara Falls for my college graduation in 1988. Small Hope Bay Lodge in Andros Town, Bahamas in 1992 with my best friend.

    The absolute best memories are the simplest. Summers at my grandmothers in Ohio. We lost her in 1981, but I will never forget her, her love, smell of her cologne, her cookies and family get togethers with my cousins.

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  15. Hi Remmy,

    I want to send a personal thank you for your participation in the Is It Summer Yet? Blog Hop. Thanks to you the Blog Hop was a great success.

    I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a happy and safe summer.

    All the best,

    Anders
    Founder/Administrations Manager
    Queer Town Abbey

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  16. Thank you to everyone who stopped by, read and commented! Thank you so much for participating and it was amazing hearing your stories as well! *hugs*

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