Villa Roma, Lifelong Memories, the Jersey Shore and the Rainwater

My brother and his kids are heading up to Villa Roma for the week. I spent the night with his kids last night and they woke up this morning like it was Christmas and Santa had just left a heaping pile of presents. I love their excitement, they couldn't be happier to know that they will be spending the week with their cousins and friends they have met in the last couple of years since they've vacationed there. The excitement is not just the fun they will have at the place itself. They are so close with their cousins, as I was with mine growing up, and still am lucky enough to be now. They are our first friends.
Here's our Bella fashionably showing her Villa Roma look.

Villa Roma is a resort located in the Catskill Mountains. Kinda like the place in the movie "Dirty Dancing". Not the romance and dancing part, just the place. It's for families, especially during certain seasons. Everyone goes the same time each year so you meet up with people you met years past. The kids are growing up with friends up there that they may not see the rest of the year but they are friends for lives because of these special memories they share. Even when Villa Roma no longer holds the excitement for them, when they're teenagers and would rather stay home with their local friends, Villa Roma and the people and memories that passed through their lives at this time will be in their hearts always.

I didn't have anything like Villa Roma growing up but I did spend many summers in my 20s "down the Jersey Shore".

It's just what you say "down the Jersey Shore." It's not the beach or ocean side and it is down (south) from where I live, but I think even if you live south of the Shore, you say "down the Jersey Shore". Let me know if I'm lucky enough to have a reader from south of the Shore.

Every Friday at work I would be beside myself with the excitement of a fun weekend. I remember one boss used to sit me down Monday mornings and loved to hear about my weekends down the Shore. Lots of fun times, but nothing like portrayed on the reality show about the Jersey Shore. That's just them, not the way it is. Even now as an adult, I love to go to the Shore, it's got places where there are kids partying but then there's great family sections where you wont run into the likes of someone like Snooki or her friends. The beaches are clean, their little town centers are quaint, great restaurants, boardwalks, and they have great diners in Jersey!
Me and my friends partied down the Shore but some of my favorite memories are just silly pranks we played on each other.

This picture has our "shit list" and a sign to the left "Remember the Rainwater.

The list started with some one saying "you're going on my shit list" and before you knew it we had a big list hanging on the wall. Anything stupid someone did went on the list, or if you stole someone's bed, their food or beer. I even have the original somewhere in my way too large collection of memories. I've read the list at one time or another over the years and most of the names on it I can't even remember but it brings back the best memories of just being a part of something fun and special in my life.

Then there's that little sign to the left of the list that says "Remember the Rainwater". That sign we made from a game box and used the inside cover. We had no markers, first used pencil and then nail polish to make it stand out more, but we ran out of nail polish. One of my friends (who by the way was my most favorite subject of a practical joke) took a pickle bucket and put it outside the front of the house to collect rainwater as it was pouring outside. We asked her what she was doing and she said it was really good to rinse your hair with rainwater, makes it smoother or something. There were about 5 or 6 of us there at the time and when she left we all sat there for about 30 seconds, maybe less, and we all kinda sat up, looked at each other, and I swear, simultaneously, we all had the same idea. We took the bucket emptied her rainwater, made the sign and piled into the bathroom surrounding the toilet. It was clean!!! But still it was toilet water and our intentions were to make her think that it wasn't clean. We scooped up the water and put it into the bucket with the sign on top of the bowl with all of us in there with big smiles on our faces and took a picture which we weren't going to show our "rainwater" collector friend til after we developed the film. One of my old friends out there has to have that picture, all I have is the sign.
Well our friend came home and as much as it would have been great to watch her rinse her hair out with the "rainwater" we were way too interested in what she was doing, asking if she had enough, could we help and as I said she had been the subject of way too many practical jokes and caught on faster than she normally did on this one. But we couldn't help it. She was putting her hands in the bucket and just amazed at how much water she got, splashing it around. I think she was about to scoop it up and rinse her face. By then we couldn't control ourselves. We were laughing so much.

Even that memory I only remember about 3 of the 6 or so involved. I'm sorry I don't remember their names but they are bundled into this wonderful memory in my heart and mind of my days down the Shore.

I wish everyone those kind of memories, memories that touch your heart for your lifetime.
I for one have been blessed with so many of them.