by Kimberly Mccluskey

Created on: December 14, 2009

There is something about growing up that makes you yearn for the simplicity of your childhood. Maybe it’s the ease of decision making or the difference of what money can buy. When you’re a child you can make decisions by using the “eenie meenie miney moe” or “one potato, two potato” method. Having a handful of shiny quarters can buy you your favorite candy and a plastic ball full of silly putty. If everything were so easy as an adult, life would be less stressful.

 Some of my favorite childhood memories are of the summers I spent with my cousins at my grandparents house and at the family summer home on the southern shores of Maine. My two slightly older cousins and I were the three musketeers. We did everything together. My Grandparents (Nana and Gramps) had a large above ground pool in their backyard. Growing up in Massachusetts there weren’t many in ground pools unless you were wealthy. We spent many hot summer days and nights lounging and splashing about in that pool. The pool was about thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide. There was a rustic red deck attached to it.

 My Mom, Aunt and Nana would relax themselves in the metal and plastic lounge chairs smothered in baby oil in the hot baking sun. My cousins and I would swim and play the day away in the heavily chlorine filled pool. Mom, Auntie and Nana made sure they had their staples right by their side. A pack of Winstons and Pall Mall non filters, a bottle of baby oil, an icy pitcher of “adults only” Pink Lemonade and slews of gossip magazines. For us kids, we had our own pitcher of Pink Lemonade, sun tan lotion (not the SPF kind) and a box of Cheez-its. Wow, the things we know now, that our parents clearly didn’t know then.

 Gramps would spend the day at the Track with his buddies. He wasn’t much of a gambler though. He would brown bag his lunch and snack, grab the Boston Herald and head off to the Track after breakfast. He only took a few bucks with him and if he lost, he lost, but if he won, he treated us to dinner at Papa Gino’s. If he won big, we went to The York Steak House. He always had a coupon though, never really splurging “in the moment” so to speak. The Track to him was his solace away from the madness in his backyard. By the time he arrived home, my cousins and I were most likely napping in the cool air conditioned living room. He would wake us up, give us a few bucks and we would walk to the

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