The long hot summer

I remember this movie as something I wasn't allowed to watch when I was about six. I think mom sent me out of the room or told me to go practice piano. But that is not the time of which I speak, oh no. The time of which I speak is taking place right here, right now in Vermont, where it is 88 in my room and 90 outside and unless I'm sitting in front of the fan, I feel like I'm back in Louisiana, only without the nice people and the Gulf of Mexico and the po-boys you can get at the truck stop for five bucks.

Tomorrow we make the drive home. Three people, sixteen hours, one Honda accord and hopefully only a few stops along the way. My parents were really into the great American road trip when I was a teenager. I'm certain that both DP and Drew can attest to my enthusiasm for the Hindrichs vacations - it usually involved me sitting in the back seat with the brother, trying to not get motion sickness, mom and dad arguing about where we were going to stay, me wishing I was back in Slidell happily sitting in my room reading Poe, and Armand playing with legos. Ah the good old days.

Armand starts his senior year tomorrow. He's pretty jazzed and I don't blame him. I remember my senior year being pretty cool, especially as most of the drama has faded to grey. Senior year is one of those precipice years, where you're certain that something marvelous is about to happen. And then, suddenly, it does.

You move out of your parents' house.

Armand is still in his secretive phase. There's a new girl in whom he's taken an interest and he says to me, "Don't tell mom anything, will you? She and pop make such a big deal out of everything and I don't want to screw it up." I find this very sweet. My little brother is finally using his big sister for her true purpose: keeper of all things our parents aren't supposed to know. I feel so sisterly now.

Probably gonna be out of touch for the next week. We've already had the internet and telephone disconnected at the IN house and I'll be up to my eyeballs in packing and whatnot. So until we get settled in the Boston house, have a good week from your friendly neighborhood Shiksa!