Monday, August 10, 2009

Cemeteries & Prostitutes

We have a weird tradition in our family. My dad makes us go to all of our family's cemeteries one Sunday every year for Father's Day. We call it Cemetery Sunday.

It sounds awful but it isn't really. As a teenager it was painful. But, with three kids at home, a day away with my sisters and dad is a good day, no matter what we are doing. We pack a cooler, a picnic and bring a camera. Each year, we take the same path through Ohio and down to West Virginia. We hear the same stories and try to understand how many "greats" each person is to us and how they are related. In between each cemetery, we catch up and share stories.

This year, we had to postpone our trip in June. I was pregnant and didn't want to bear a child in West Virginia and my dad was recovering from an outpatient surgery. So on Sunday, we packed ourselves into my Dad's little car and headed all around Ohio to visit our dead relatives. Our trip included my mom this time and it was just hard to believe that she is included on our Cemetery Sunday.

We finished our tour in West Virginia and noticed that our air conditioning wasn't working in our car. It was a HOT day in Ohio on Sunday. It was at least 93 degrees with extreme humidity. We headed over the bridge into Ohio and then the dummy lights started going off and on. Oh no! Our car was breaking down just by the Ohio River. We barely made it into town.

We called AAA and we sat and waited on a bench in the deserted sleepy town. Pick-up trucks passed us and we had a lot of people looking at us. We didn't look we came from the town and we thought they noticed. A couple of police cars came by too and caught our attention.

We took some pictures, called our aunt to pick us up and waited for the tow truck. Luckily, it came within fifteen minutes. What service! We were thrilled. We broke down next to a AAA office and they even let us wait for our aunt to pick us up inside in the air conditioning.

And you will never believe why everyone was staring at us waiting on the park bench in the middle of the city.The tow truck driver let my dad in on a little secret. The bench where we waited for the tow is where the city's prostitutes sit!!!

Cemetery Sunday will never be the same! What a memory. Our car! The bench! Prostitutes!

8 comments:

Kat said...

Oh man! Now that is quite a trip.

The trip doesn't sound odd to me at all. It sounds lovely. I actually love cemetaries. The are beautiful and peaceful. And a trip to honor your deceased relatives is a great idea.

Anonymous said...

Some day you'll have to tell Elle about her "first" Cemetary Sunday. I was thinking about your mom being included this year, too. I like the idea of a town that let's its women of the night have a nice rest. =)
Aldee's Friend Mary

GypsiAdventure said...

oh my god! hahaha What an interesting trip ... hahaha
~K

amyjr said...

That is a nice tradition to do but sad that now your mom is included.
Pretty funny about the bench.LOL I can just hear how you will tell your kids about the time the car broke down and the bench.

Laura said...

What a great thing for your dad to implement and great for you all to make time to carry on the tradition.

Anonymous said...

What a fun and interesting day. I am just glad that the cars and trucks that drove by kept driving. It will definitely be a day we will never forget. I love the way you descibed it! You still got it Sexy Mama! Lara

KT said...

I had to call AAA this week too. They have saved my hide more than once. I actually have a post going tomorrow about how awesome AAA is. Unfortunately, my story does not involve prostitues so yours wins!

AreWeThereYet? said...

I bet your mother had a big laugh at that one! HUGS

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