Welcome to the cKotch.Com blog. I’m Christopher Kotcher, and this is my second post for cKotch.Com’s special Vacation Month. This is a vacation spot once lost but later regained.
Long Time Coming
Cincinnati was a good old family vacation spot.
My mom’s side of the family is from there. Some family still lives there. There is a good little theme park in the form of King’s Island.
And all this is not to mention coneys at Skyline Chili and chocolate malts at United Dairy Farmers.
Unfortunately, years passed, and we fell out with some of our family down there.
Vacation time lessened too. High school brought summer football practices. College brought expenses.
A single yearly trip “Up North” here in Michigan just made more sense than anything else.
Then my maternal grandma got sick.
We cared for her for a few years, but circumstances eventually led her back to Cincinnati.
There was a lot of uncertainty in those days, and we lost touch with her for a bit.
Over time, she reached out.
We started e-mailing each other daily. Even sent a few gifts back and forth. Most of my current room decorations actually now come from her. She has always loved giving things to those she loves.
As things went on, my mom and I knew we had to take the time to see her.
So, the weekend before my college graduation, my mom and I took a brief trip. We would be going to Cincinnati again, and Grandma was set to be the star of the show.
Meeting Up
Grandma had landed at a nice little place. Her brother even works there on the maintenance staff.
My mom and I did not know what to expect. No matter what, we were prepared to give Grandma the time she needed however would be best to do it.
We found her reading her Kindle in a cozy room filled with all the little things she loves. All the knickknacks. All the plushies. All the photos, mementos, and flowers.
Grandma saw us and wondered for a few moments if we could really, truly be there. When she realized we were, she raced to us.
Before we could do anything, she asked us how long we would be there and when we would be back again. Then she sat on her bed and went through every gift she had set aside for us.
We were ready to be there all day with her.
Then she stood and went to her walker. She was ready to go to the mall.
All the Stops
The pattern for all future trips was pretty much set there.
Grandma got her chance to look at purses and shorts in the mall. My mom became our navigator. I assumed the usual male role of pack mule carrying absolutely everything.
From the mall, Grandma wanted to try the new shoe store in a nearby strip mall.
There we also discovered a brand-new bookstore, Half Price Books. Grandma had to go there to grab all the latest used biographies. I had to go there to grab cheap collections of mythology and classic literature.
These runs became the focus of our Cincinnati trips.
Many of the old vacation traditions were honored soon enough. Namely, coneys from Skyline Chili and chocolate malts from United Dairy Farmers.
Later trips brought their own unique moments.
That September, for example, we went back to the hotel room to watch the season’s first game of Michigan football. Grandma has always loved the Wolverines.
They lost pretty bad to Notre Dame, but we still had a good enough time together.
Honestly, all these moments have been some of our favorite time ever spent in Cincinnati.
Reunion
One more thing remains to share from that first trip to see Grandma. This would be a family party.
Birthdays were being celebrated, and my mom and I were being welcomed back down for the first time in a while.
There was so much more family to see there than I had ever expected. They actually dwarfed the small bit of family still divided from us.
Warmth and life radiated here.
Old faces enjoyed finally seeing each other again. Kids ran all over the place having the time of their lives just being with each other.
The food was good in all the ways only home cooking can be.
I talked to a few people here and there. Mainly, I stuck by Grandma. I am used to being the one who keeps her form stumbling. I could not resist going back to the old role.
Still, I enjoyed being an observer this time. After all, those observations led to the poem attached to this post. What better poem for a family vacation than one about family?
Return
Many more trips to Cincinnati would come. Hopefully, these trips will continue for a good, long time to come.
Some have focused on family reunions. Others were entirely about seeing Grandma.
Some stops cycle in and out of rotation. Others are downright requirements.
Now I always need to prepare a list for Half Price Books whenever we go down.
These are the trips not just about doing cool things and seeing cool stuff. These are the trips about doing everything we can for those we visit.
Such trips are always to be appreciated.
Kotcher’s Call to Action
My poem on family reunions has been added to the cKotch.Com portfolio. Please enjoy “Noise.”
If you like my content and wish to see more, then you have a few options.
You could check out my book Five Strange Stories on Amazon. Five Strange Stories is enrolled in the Kindle Matchbook program, so anyone who buys the paperback can also get the eBook for free.
You can also check my Essential Posts page for links to some of my greatest posts to the cKotch.Com blog.
Finally, be sure to like my Facebook page and share it with your friends. I post a link there whenever a new blog post goes live each Friday at 5:00 PM EST.