Once Upon A Dream

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Willie Nile - American Ride

This reward of traveling cross country we gave ourselves.....not just once but, three times that year.  Glen had lost his father a few years before and they were VERY close.  We even lived with him for a period of time when we renovated our beach house.  We took a train, plane and then my favorite our Voyager(sometimes referred to as the Voyageralyner) and a pop camper cross country.  We called it the check it out America tour.  We mainly went to visit Glen's dad's younger brother and family.  But, we also wrote down every single thing we always wanted to see in this most wonderful country of ours.  No regrets, no thoughts of how we wished we went somewhere.  We went to almost every National Park out west.  We would buy a classical music CD and ride, ride, ride through the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone.  It was a dream come true for both of us.  We contemplated moving to our three choices.  St. Augustine, FLA, Kansas City or Camano Island north of Seatlle, WASH.  We came home and sold the camper and after renting the house out, I think we actually broke even and had a trip of a lifetime.

Working on the Rewards

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Bruce Springsteen - My Beautiful Reward - MTV 1992 (Subtitle ITA)

Well, we are half way into year and I feel I need to conclude all that I have written already.  Rewards....as a youth I didn't get any.  Jobs, yes, I worked all through high school and summers.  I was a chambermaid at the Country Club Motel and the Warren Hotel.  I worked at Evelyn's in Belmar from the age of sixteen until I was twenty-five.  I never received a blue ribbon or a trophy.  When I graduated High School they announced my name to stand up because I graduated with honors.  Really?  I had no clue until that moment.  I went home and read the graduation program and saw where classmates were going to college and the scholarships they received---I did not receive any.  I went to Brookdale Community College, because when my father asked what I was doing....he said I better do SOMETHING!  I always had money to see whatever movie or concert I wanted.  At this point I had seen Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes with Springsteen and Miami Steve closing the show Many times, the Eagles, Jackson Brown, Leo Sayer, etc.   My friends and I were going to the local bars like The Ship Wheel, Royal Manor, Silver Dollar, The Osprey, the Ale House, the Headliner and dancing to the best bar bands ever!!!!  It was a fun way of life.  I met Glen two months after I turned eighteen and we continued going to the same places and dancing almost every night away.  Life was good.  I enrolled at Bloomsburg State College the next Spring and attended for three years.  After I left there, still working at Evelyn's now as a waitress Glen and I got engaged and married a year later.  Whewwww......we bought our first house the next Spring.  It was a 1920's bungalow on Brielle Road and located across street from the water slide and beach in Manasquan.  We didn't even have to step off the curb to get home from Leggett's or the Osprey.  Glen worked very hard as a union carpenter and I still waitressing.  Life was good.  We worked for many years with whatever extra money we had to put on a second floor and a modern kitchen and bathroom.  Glen drew the plans and I couldn't wait to decorate it when it was done.  It seemed like we worked on it for many years.  We decided we were ready to start a family and much to our surprise that ended up not being very easy.  It involved me having to go on for fertility drugs and I had surgery to help.  We rented our house out one summer and traveled cross country.  At this point we had been married for seven years and I took one year and went back to college and received a degree in Art from Georgian Court College.   This trip was a reward we gave ourselves....talking ourselves out of the guilt we felt by taking a summer off.  We both had worked very hard every summer since we were thirteen and we had to tell each other (many times) we deserved it.  It was I think life changing for us.  We almost moved to Washington state, but I had to go with my gut and decide to go back home and continue my infertility treatment with the same doctor I had been seeing for the past year.  When I went to college I had a great job merchandising costume jewelry to area stores and another job at Crabtree and Evelyn on third avenue in Spring Lake.  I loved my job at Crabtree and Evelyn and it made me fall in love with Spring Lake all over again.  My dream was to own a store, have children, own a bunglow on the beach and live happily ever after.