My Going Away Party

About a week before we were to leave for our separate boot camps. Lloyds parents decided to give us a going away party.  I don’t remember his parents' names; they were always just Mr. and Mrs. Waitschies to me.

They were really thoughtful and told Lloyd and me that they would buy the booze for our going away party as long as we gave them our car keys and agreed not to leave after we started drinking. We both agreed.  It was just the 4 of us, Mr. and Mrs. Waitschies, Lloyd and me.  I started out drinking rum and coke.

I had never even had a beer before and rum and coke was the only drink I knew the name of.  I don’t remember what Lloyd was drinking, but to say the least, we got plastered.  Mrs. Waitschies fixed my first drink and added a cherry to it for garnish. 

After a couple of drinks, I started to make my own drinks, and started adding more cherries with each one. God, I loved maraschino cherries. Soon we passed out on the couches. At some point, I started to feel sick.  Well, DUH, and headed for the bathroom to throw-up.  I woke up the next morning in the bathroom to Mrs. Waitschies rousing me. She told me to get into the shower and clean up. 

Before I did, I looked at the bathroom...

Do you remember the scenes from the movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Well, think of the bloodiest scene, and it might come close to resemble the bathroom I was in. There was cherry vomit all over the place. In the commode, on the floor, on the walls.

By the time I got done with my shower, Mrs. Waitschies had cleaned most of it up. That woman was a saint. She never once complained, or made fun of me for getting sick.  She made us both breakfast, and I was able to keep it down.  I think by late afternoon, I started to feel somewhat normal again.

I think I loved that woman almost as much as my own mom. She was Aces in my book.