Vacations from Orphanage

My favorite vacations from the orphanage were when my Nannie would come to pick up Diane and me and take us to her home. We would spend the entire weekend being a family and being together. Every once in a while David would come and visit with us too. Nannie would take Diane and me to visit some of our relatives on these vacations so I got to at least know some of their names. When we went to Uncle Frank’s and Aunt Dorothy’s house, I would get to play with Aunt Dorothy’s Pomeranian’s. They were very lively and seemed to make the house seem more friendly to me. Their child’s name was Billy and even though he would be around, I never got to be friends with him. I guess that is because he was so much older than I. Another relative that Nannie would take us to visit was her sister, Eleanor. Aunt Eleanor had two daughters, Harriet and Louise, who were about the same age as Diane and I. We seemed to have fun together just playing and being kids.

One of these vacations was especially memorable for me. I do not remember how old I was or the date of the vacation but I do remember the togetherness and the feeling of pride in again being able to be with my younger sister and to see my younger brother. Being together seemed to make even the most ordinary things like helping to clean up the toys or helping dry the dishes seem special.

The reason I remember this vacation the most is because on this vacation Nannie asked me to take a jar of jelly, which had been given to her, down into the basement so that it would stay cool and still be good to eat when she was ready. As I started to take the jelly down the stairs, Diane decided that Nannie had asked her to do it and we started to fight over it while still going down the steps. All of a sudden, I lost my grip on the jar and started to tumble all the way down to the bottom. Nannie came looking to see what all the noise was about and there I was laying in a broken jar of jelly at the bottom of the steps.

While Nannie was trying to clean me up she noticed that there was a cut right by my eye and a large gash on my leg. Off we went to the emergency ward so that I could get sewed up. Boy was that a big place and so much going on. There were people sitting in chairs moaning, nurses rushing in and out of rooms, and doctors looking at charts. I think I was so fascinated in everything that was going on that I forgot to tell them how much my wrist was hurting.

It wasn’t until after we had settled down to go to bed that I realized that if I moved a certain way that my wrist really hurt. Since I was taking medicine because of the stitches which I had received, I didn’t even tell Nannie about it until right before we were to go back to the orphanage. She called the doctor who had taken care of me and had given me the stitches. They told her that they could take x-rays and check out my arm to see if it were broken but that would mean that I would have less time with Nannie. When she explained that she was supposed to be taking me back to the orphanage, they instructed her to put my wrist in a sling and tell the orphanage that I was to wear it for at least two weeks.

Boy was I relieved. I was going to be able to spend the time with my Nannie and I didn’t get yelled at for falling in the first place. Although getting the stitches weren’t the most pleasant thing in my life, I was happy that neither Diane or myself ended up in trouble. Funny thing though, Nannie never asked either of us to take jelly to the basement again.

It seemed that every summer the orphanage would find homes for all of the children and would close for two weeks.

One of the vacations which had made an impression upon me was not with my Nannie but being sent to live with a young couple in the mountains. Diane was sent to the seashore with a different couple. I remember the little cottage and the homey feel of the place and thinking that this was a nice place to visit. Toward the end of the visit, I remember sitting down and being asked if I wanted to stay and live there as a family. “Can Diane stay here too and can I see my Nannie?” I remember asking. A sad look came into their eyes and I was told that they were only allowed to have one child and no I wouldn’t be able to see her or my Nannie. My heart sunk to the bottom of my stomach and I told them that I really liked it there but that I just couldn’t because Diane and Nannie were the most important people in my life. It was a very quiet trip back to the orphanage. After this trip I noticed that there were a lot fewer girls in the building which I lived and finally realized that many of them were probably living in a home with a family that wanted them. Only a few months later I would end up on a vacation from which I didn’t have to return to the orphanage and still got all my wishes.

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