Long ago I Chistmassed in Maryland alone

[Greywolf]

I have no idea why - my Mom was there, and in the end every year there I wasn't alone at all. When I got done playing with my friends (around high school and well after midnight) I went home and Mom (a college grad) was there. THE HOUSE (apartment, really) was different from "outside". It was a sanctuary. And we watched movies, talked about books and art and science (not her area), and it was different than being outside the place. I was always strange in some ways. I liked AC/DC when they came out - but also the Boston Pops live fourth of july version of the 1812 overture... BOSTON captivated me. Caught between two worlds, I have no idea why to this day. She watched "Escape from New York" (the first one) with me, after she bought the cable offer, though I never thought much of television - preferring books. We talked about it too - she didn't understand much of it. The characters were too strange. I knew some of them though - I had seen many of them downtown. In that she gave me a lot. She knew a fine book was a thing I treasured for the ideas in it... Consider that a play station had not been marketted yet, but other stuff had. I preferred to build bicycles (so I could travel) and speakers (so I had ROCK!). We liked to drive around the maryland countryside, which it was affordable to do then. I was split.... I knew what I liked, and knew what all the people my age liked. They were different. I am left with bad habits, and great longings....... Roads without end, learning new stuff, bottles of beer. In going OUT - I went no where. The more I stayed home it seems - the further I travelled. Funny about that.... Momma understood Christmas. She gave me gifts that still remain

[BPofMD]

Hey Grey, long time no talk....I guess you must have found another job and you're still in TN, eh? If you want to work on RV's again, you know there's a batch of dealers up here, right? And the beer is still cold too!

[Tractor Boy]

beers always cold here man, lol

[Greywolf]

I still have relatives around Silver Springs - you familiar with Kemp Mill? I have an Aunt and Uncle within six blocks of the highrise.

I also lived in Glenmont for a while, I went to the old apartment complex in '01 just to look around and it was still the same. For a while I was in the highrise along Viers Mill road, I went out on some of my longest cycling trips from there on the bike paths in Rock Creek Park, down through the mall, and up the C&O canal towpath. Fun times, great trails, high speed - low drag!

Maryland is where I learned to lace up HOT touring rims for pennies, changing the bikes I had forever.

I rode those bike trails every year until I wiped out three times in a row from ice on the blacktop, then I'd quit for the winter.