I’m Stayin’ At Your House

Summer is coming…and you know what that means…I’m drivin’ all over and staying with friends. I realized yesterday when I was writing about my Dad that I got that trait from him. Not because he ever stayed with anyone. No. Because he and my Mom left me in America alone when they moved to London and I was 18.

Now to be fair I was in school, but I did not go to London for every vacation. I only went to London for Christmas and Summer. So any other time I was not in school I had to find a place to stay.

Now my parents raised us to be very self sufficient. They did not worry that I wouldn’t have a place I could go. They never even asked particulars about where I would be going. No. I had a car and they knew I would figure it out. My father did give me one bit of advice. “Go and buy a case of Robert Mondavi Chardonnay and keep it in your car so you always have a gift when you go stay with people.”

Now when I was 18 the drinking age in Connecticut was 18, but I went to school in Pennsylvania where it was 21. And let’s not talk about driving liquor across state lines, as well as how bad it was for the wine to live in my car changing temperatures.

Anyway. I did follow his instructions and always brought wine wherever I went.

So now that summer is coming I am thinking about all the places I am going to be going, Atlantic Beach four times, Figure Eight, and up and back to Maine and all the times I am going to need to find someone to visit.

I realized yesterday that I was trained early to just impose on people and stay with them when I am in their town. I am brazen. I tell people I am looking for a place to stay. I have friends I come right out and ask, “Can I stay with you?” They all know they can say no, and they do if it is inconvenient. But here is the thing I promise if I come stay with you I am not bringing you a bottle of American wine that has sat in my hot car for three months.