I was talking to my sister a couple of days ago and the conversation turned to memories. She asked me what were my favorite funny memories I had with her, and I told her I would get back to her on Friday. Well today's Friday, so here are my thoughts! My sister and I have had lots of laughs over the years. I didn't want to go with just the obvious ones, so I thought deep and hard on this subject. While some of the memories weren't really funny when they happened, I can look back on them now and smile. Given my sister asked me explicitly not to write about what happened in Madison Square Garden back in 1989 at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary Concert, I will leave that story for another day! THAT story holds less chuckles for me nowadays anyway, so I likely won't write about that one anytime soon. I am going to start with a very old memory that always make me crack a smile when I think about it, although admittedly it doesn't come to mind often. I think this one is from 1969 or 1970. That year, we had gotten some type of furniture delivered to the house that had a really huge box. Michelle and I decided that it would make a really cool fort and we cut holes into the box to make windows and doors. We then plopped it into the middle of the living room and watched TV from out of the windows and door. We threw pillows inside it to make it comfy, but as I remember it, it was very hot inside the box. We were too stubborn to admit it though, and continued to use the fort for about a week before it mysteriously disappeared. I remember we watched The Brady Bunch from inside the box. I think it was a new show that year, since we used to get very excited to watch it...unlike when we were older and it seemed to play continuously on channel 5. Another memory that comes to mind from around the save time period...maybe 1972 or '73 is when we were in the wedding party for my Aunt Janet's wedding. I was the ring bearer, and my sister was a flower girl. I remember how excited I was to be in the wedding party and I believe Michelle was too. This laugh isn't about my sister really. It's about the hairstyles that my Mom and Grandmother are sporting. The only other real memory I have from that time is that I think Aunt Janet and Uncle Ray had an apartment across from where Palisades Park used to be. We had gone there when I was very young and I remembered going on the kiddie rides. Then, right around the time of the wedding they had that apartment and I remember that there was a big lot in front of their apartment and across it on the other side was Palisades Park, but that it was closed down. Another memory from around the same time period involves my sister and the broken arm she got when she fell off a horse in Canada. That wasn't a great trip for the Nef family as I remember it. We all had a great time, but the injury toll was high. Michelle fell off a horse and had a really big cast put on her arm. Look at the size of that thing in the picture below! A day or so later, I stepped on an underground bee's nest (likely yellow jackets now that I think about it), and received a number of stings up and down my legs. The hilarity of the situation didn't come until we were back in New Jersey. You see, those big casts were hot and itchy, and Michelle was suffering from the itches and being a bit grumpy in general. At some point, I thought it would be a good idea to throw a chewed piece of gum down into her cast. Well, somehow I did it! Michelle yelled and put up a commotion which got me yelled at. I remember being really upset about it because Michelle "might" catch some kind of infection or something from my gum. A few weeks later, they cut the cast off, and there was my gum stuck to the inside of the cast. Although I have a lot of memories, I don't have pictures for all of them. A big snowball fight at Schuetzen Park comes to mind. We used to go sledding there in the winter. Hanging out during the summer with Donna, Dana and Donald Torrence at their pool. They had an ugly little dog named Bristle as I remember it. An accurate name for that tiny wiry-haired thing. Michelle, remember the hippy that stopped by from down the street who dove into the pool with her clothes on? I remember the back yard at our apartment was all cement except for one part, which Mario used to grow tomatoes. We didn't think that was fair and I remember dumping some stuff on the tomatoes (probably a mixture of water and pepper now that I think of it) hoping they would die to spite him. As we grew up, I remember going to concerts with my sister as well. I think Billy Joel was the first concert we went to together, although I also remember going to see The Police, Joan Jett, and REM at Shea Stadium. REM had been just starting out and I remember they got booed off the stage. It was Michelle, me, her boyfriend Tom and my friend Steve and we had a cooler in the car with us as we drove in. I think we were drinking Molsens or Moosehead on the way in, which means either Tom or Michelle picked up the beer since my tastes and cash flow ran more towards Pabst or Bud. Of course, there was the 1989 Atlantic Records concert where my sister and I saw about 40 bands doing short sets including Led Zeppelin, Yes, Crosby Stills & Nash and the Average White Band among others. Great time as I remember it! There were more, including The Who at the Meadowlands. The last concert we went to together though, was the most memorable to me. Michelle came with us to see Victoria Justice when I was bringing Maddie to her first concert. I remember it rained that day while we were out in the parking lot waiting to get in. We all got soaked while waiting in line. Once we got in, who should we run into, but Mr. Cool-Aid...Hey Cool-Aid!!! I wanted to get a picture of Maddie with Mr. Cool-Aid, but she felt funny about it until Michelle decided to go get her picture taken first. Once she did that, I was able to get Maddie to take a picture with me with Mr.Cool-Aid. Another time that makes me smile is the time my sister got me to wear pink. It was for her wedding. I was part of the wedding party, and Michelle was having her bridesmaids wear fuchsia-colored dresses. Well, the men in the party had to wear matching ties and cummerbunds. I was never partial to wearing the color pink, and I wasn't this time either. Still, she was my sister and I was in the wedding party so I bit the bullet and wore the tux...pink tie and all. In the end, the tux didn't make me look bad at all. That mustache I was sporting at the time...well, that's another story! Once Michelle moved out on her own, we continued to hang out. In fact, we hung out together even more. I remember Michelle's first apartment was in the bottom floor of a house in Port Monmouth. She was very proud of her apartment and she decided to have a house-warming/Christmas party. Well, me and two of my friends stopped over for the party and we were all having a good time. Michelle was very touchy about keeping the place neat and a couple of times she came up to me and said to go throw a plate into the garbage or to pick up my cup. It felt like she was chasing me around the room to make sure that me and my friends didn't make a mess.
At one point, things started to get out of hand, and I decided to take action (keep in mind some of the things she had busted me for were not my messes. If someone put down a plate, she assumed it was me since her friends would never create a mess at her place!). I had accidentally dropped a pretzel on the floor and I was just starting to bend down to pick it up, when out of nowhere Michelle appears at my side and snarls "pick it up!" It was like she was the angel of cleanliness trying to smite me for my transgression. Without missing a beat, I raised my foot high into the air and brought my foot down on the pretzel as if it was a wine glass wrapped in cloth at a bar mitzvah. I looked her in the eye and yelled "Mazel tov!" Essentially, mazel tov is jewish for good luck, so it wasn't too far off the mark. Well, Michelle's jaw dropped open...one of her friends made a disgusted face and started tsk tsking as chicks are wont to do, while my friend Chris literally fell over because he was laughing so hard. Michelle looked at me, said "you're a jerk." and then walked off. I don't remember much of anything else about that party, but I still get a good chuckle when I think of that one! Once we both bought houses, we hung out nearly every week. Michelle's a good cook and I would usually grab one or two meals at her house during the week. Michelle and Rick also had a pool, so we would float around the pool on rafts drinking. Rick and I would drink scotch and Michelle would usually stick to lighter stuff or soda. I smoked cigars back then and Rick and I would smoke stogeys out back while Michelle prepared dinner. Good times! We would oftentimes take our dogs for walks along the trails or at one of the local parks. One funny moment that I remember is when we were walking through Hartshorne Woods. Michelle's dog, Spanky, always needed to stay on a leash since he was a beagle, and when he got on a scent, it was very hard to get him to listen to commands. Barkley was a tad better at listening, so I would let him off his leash to roam a bit. One time, while Barkley was in the woods he flushed a deer from its hiding space. The deer ran out across the path we were on directly between Michelle and I. Now, that doesn't sound like a big deal, but there was literally maybe ten feet between us at the time! The deer ran closer to her than to me, but I remember it was fast and scary. We laughed it off once we realized what happened, but before that, it was a crashing sound in the woods, a blur of brown and then Barkley bolting past us in pursuit! This post is getting a bit lengthy now so I will try to keep it short. Since I have moved to New Hampshire, we do not get to hang out as much anymore. We still speak nearly every day. Michelle is very good at giving me a call. I am really bad at calling since I get caught up in all types of nonsense, and then forget to do the important things, like keep up with my sister. I enjoy our daily chit chats. When we do get together, we usually have fun. When Rick and Michelle come up to visit, we usually have a name-game marathon with Maddie. When we really get going, these games can last for hours! My Mom is getting older now, so it is harder for us to get down to New Jersey. The trips exhaust her and I usually can't stay for long periods due to my work schedule and our karate training. When we do go, I know we are always set to enjoy a number of good meals. Like I said earlier, Michelle is a good cook, and she likes to cook! If there is one picture that always reminds me of home, it is a picture of my Mom giving Michelle a kiss. Michelle is sitting in a chair and my Mom came up behind her and is leaning down to give her a kiss while she is holding her head. Michele's face is all scrunched up and you can only see the top of my Mom's head really. I wanted to find the pic to finish off this post, but unfortunately I couldn't find it. So I will end it with the picture below. It is a recent pic, but I don't know what was going on on the day it was taken. I just know I was happy to be hanging with my sister.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
September 2021
Categories
All
|