I hate waking up
before noon
on any day
but there came
some days of the year
that before 6
was too late.

Christmas
birthday
to name two
applied to this.

Another day did, too.

The day Aunt Pat and I
planned on renting bicycles
when on vacation
down in Wildwood.

Every year
usually on Wednesday
or even as late as Thursday
we would wake up
before everyone else
and go for a ride.

Not just her and I.
Dad, Bartley, Ceil,
the kids
Mikey and Melissa
the kids
Shane
all of us family
riding the boardwalk
before the sun's heat.

We rode the whole boardwalk
stopping at one end
for a rest
as the sun began to build.

We turned back
after a couple
quick and furious rides
down the steep ramp
that led onto the boardwalk.

For parts we talked
and others just rode
taking in the sights.

Even the hourly rental
hindered us not
for we all forgot time
either way.

Riding the boardwalk
on those new
but old-fashioned bicycles
was someone like
hopping into a time machine
only it stopped time.

Thinking about it now
I can still remember
certain boards
some that were extra springy
and the tram car lanes
and having to “watch it”
but only on our trek back.

They started at a certain time.

The boardwalk was ours
and everyone else
who joined us
to bring on this new day.

It seems so far away
and it is
but the clarity
is heartbreaking.

I wish I could hop back
into that time machine
and at the end
go back to the hotel
and wake up my mom
if she wasn't already
and give her a hug
because I missed her
while out in all our
very own
time machine.

06/18/2010

Author's Note: I cried while writing this.

Posted on 06/18/2010
Copyright © 2025 Jeffrey Parren