On THIS day in '84...

It's 2:40am on May 12...always a key day to me. It's the day in '84 that we left on a rainy Saturday at 7am or so for Florida...the morning AFTER the deadly Great Adventure fire. How do I recall this? I have no fucking clue, but it's always stood out to me. Taken out of school for that trip...THAT was fun! Sadly, the trip ended abruptly -- mercifully after everything Orlando -- when yours truly, who began feeling funny the night before we left Orlando, was determined to have the CHICKEN POX once we drove all the way to Key Biscayne. See, i'm writing this and memories are flooding back, and I just canNOT fathom that this was 22 years ago...some moments are SO vivid in my mind. I remember saying bye to certain neighbors as we drove off...reading about the deadly fire in the car...running INTO other neighbors -- white trash, who we hated, yet had to make pleasant, neighborly "wow, this is SO funny!" chitchat with for a few minutes -- at Epcot (cue It's A Small World After All joke)...feeling funny that night before. I also remember how pissed I was that we had to go home...and driving around in a monsoon through Miami looking for a doctor to see me...and how rough the surf was at our oceanfront hotel, and how there was like NO beach 'cause the surf was beating against the seawall...and how miserably uncomfortable I was on the ride home in the cramped back seat, in humid weather, as my pox began exploding...and how, once home, everything looked so much more verdant than when we left. And THEN i got "the tray." The Food Tray. In bed. I was basically cordoned off in my room, and mom would bring me meals. I even got a bell! I'd watch TV and eat all day, confined to bed, for DAYS. I remember rather enjoying it. Particularly the bell part. Ahhhh. So, yeah, this day always holds a lot of memories. Did you enjoy that trip back to the first Reagan administration? Today also marks 2 months since my birthday...no pondering THAT for me now, though. Hmm, funny...just looked up to see Weather Channel footage of...a beach in Miami. It is a GORGEOUS night out...high 50s, generally clear, that "after rain" moist feel to the air, a FULL MOON! And music...blasting from somewhere in Manhattan. Yes, I can hear it here...it must be some pier party in Chelsea. So that's that. I really had a bizarre sleep pattern last night...dozing at 4ish...up at 5:30...stayin up till 6:30...then up at 10:30. Pretty awake, though, for it being 3:30am now. Gonna read The Ledger now...in the still of the late, late night...