"Road Map" by Jacquie Greis
Danielle use to spend a lot of time with me as soon as your Mom thought she
was old enough for me to have her overnight. Once that happened Danielle use
to spend the night on a regular basis. This one particular time, I was 7 or 8 months pregnant with Willie. At this time in my pregnancy, I went from a slim 123lbs to
173lbs. So, you can imagine how big... no, huge, my belly was (not to mention the rest of me). I was getting a bath and Danielle was in the bathroom talking to me. She use to get baths with me but there wasn't room for her in the tub because of my size. When I was getting out of the tub I could see her staring at my stomach. Because I started out the pregnancy so small and grew so big I was marked with many stretch marks on my stomach. Danielle continued to stare at my big belly and then out of nowhere said, "Aunt Jacquie, your stomach looks like a road map." I
laughed. I thought that was one cute remark from one cute kid. She was right, it did look like a road map.
"Quest for Doc Martens" by Ryan Derfler
When I was in 8th grade, Danielle was a junior in high school. She was always in tune with clothing trends, and, at the time, Doc Marten boots were the thing to have. They didn't sell them in Lebanon, PA, which is where we were living, but Danielle found out they were available at a mall in Harrisburg, a 30 minute drive. So, Danielle, Daren, and I loaded into "the Blazer" a Chevy SUV that preempted SUV's, and headed out to buy our Doc's.
We got to the mall without incident and each dropped $130 for the boots. My mom was nice enough to buy them for us for the back to school season and we were very excited to be so trendy. Anyway, I recall that Daren and I put our Doc's on right away and wore them in the car on the ride home. Just as we left Harrisburg, the Blazer began to overheat. Right away, Danielle threw on the heat to keep the car from severely overheating.
It was a unseasonably hot day for August, something like 85 degrees, and the addition of hot air blowing from the car vents made it so that we all started sweating, music blasting, riding home happy as hell with our cool new boots. Kind of a mundane story, but I'll never forget it.
"The Comet" by Jacquie Greis
Well anyway, last night I was with friends and we were talking about different things and the topic of roller coasters came up and I remember Danielle's first ever roller coaster ride. It was at Hershey park.
It was MeMe, baby Willie (still in a stroller) Danielle and I. She was just tall enough and I remember standing in line to board "The Comet" with her and looking at the excitement building up in those big blue eyes of hers......the line wasn't moving all that fast so I let her know if for any reason she did not want to follow thru that would be ok with me.
As you know, when you are standing in line to board a ride it flies past you many times with all on board screaming.....before you actually board it. Well, we were next to board, then we boarded.....Danielle screamed the entire ride. I was so worried that she was scared and that I was going to be in big trouble with Monique and Jack for doing that to their baby girl.....
We got off the ride and she looked at me, I looked at her and with all the excitement in her she said, "Aunt Jacquie, that was fun, can we do it again?"..........I was so happy that it turned out that way and we got right back in line for her to do it again and the 2nd time around we went up front. She was a little dare devil that girl was. I love her and miss her so very much and it was fun going back to that day............
"The Big Bust" by Ryan Derfler
While attending Penn State in Berks County, Danielle had an apartment in Sinking Spring, PA. Daren and I would make the 35 minute drive to visit her and hang out at her place. Occasionally we'd bring friends. And, one time, we decided to bring two car loads of friends and have a small party there. Danielle was a great host, but we didn't realize the night would be so adventuresome.
Shortly after the troops arrived, everyone was having fun, eating, drinking, playing games, listening to music. The phone rang--it was Meme, our grandmother. Meme was visiting our parents in Lebanon, and she had bad news--our parents were on the way to Sinking Spring. They had caught word of the party because the parent of one of our friends had called my parents house looking for her. Apparently, the missing friend (who was at Danielle's), had jumped out of her bedroom window to attend and her mom found her missing.
Anyway, mild panic ensued. Several of my friends decided to go for a short drive in the neighborhood until the arrival of the parents passed. They weren't drinking but didn't want to be deported back to Lebanon, so off they went to their car. It was December, if I recall correctly, and snow was falling.
My brother Daren, and I, stayed at the apartment and attempted to look as normal as possible. We ate mints, then Doritos to mask the potential smell of the one or two beers we'd had. Then they arrived. With a knock, my parents entered Danielle's apartment and immediately sensed something was ary. The conclusion was that they decided to take Daren and I home, and it wasn't too long before they realized Daren had had an adult beverage.
Meanwhile, my friends were circling the neighborhood, when, in the blinding snow, they made a wrong turn down a one way street. A cop was a wittness and they were pulled over. They said they were looking for a friends house, and the cop was kind enough to escort them (back) to my sisters apartment. You can imagine her face when she opened the door and saw the cop.
The conclusion was that Daren and I were pulled from the apartment, and my friends returned to my sisters and enjoyed the rest of the evening. It was quite an event and would be talked about for years to come. Danielle loved to entertain and was usually the life of the party. We can only be thankful that my Meme called ahead; otherwise, everyone would probably have been sent home!
