It was a hot, sunny morning in the summer of 2005. I rushed down the stairs in a hurry and waited patiently by the front door of our townhouse in Ormond Beach, Florida. Around 9:00 am, I heard brakes squeak and the honk of a horn. I knew exactly who it was, but to be sure I peeked out of the window that was closest to me. A silver, 2009 Chevy Traverse appeared in my range of sight. My Aunt Amanda and my cousins Sarah and Tyler had just completed their long drive from what I believe was Alabama at the time. My Uncle Roger was in the Air Force; he flew black hawk jets. Wherever he was stationed, his wife and kids followed. They have lived everywhere from Hawaii to New Mexico; so it was hard to tell where they were living at this time, but in all honesty, I only cared about the fact that they were here, in Florida, at my house.

My aunt flung the door open, suitcase in hand and announced their arrival. At that moment both of my parents trudged down the stairs; yawning, eyes barely open. I knew my parents were happy to see my aunt and cousins even though they didn’t express this emotion on their faces; they just really like their beauty sleep. My parents realized what was going on and soon enough they were in the living room giving a full house tour. We found ourselves standing in the guest bedroom by the end of the tour. “This is where you and the cousins will be staying.” My mother announced to my aunt. My mother, father and I left the room, closing the door behind us so that our company could unpack.        

When they finished unpacking my mother proposed that Tyler and I take Sarah, who was only one year old upstairs to keep her occupied. The parents stayed downstairs drinking margaritas and discussing all things “adult.” Tyler and I’s five year old brains are easy to bore and we were feeling a little mischievous. Without a sound we had made it across the hall to the bathroom. “Now what?” Tyler had asked me. I was a collector of bath soaps; I loved all things that smelt good and my grandmother had worked for avon at this time, so we obtained body washes for dirt cheap. I picked up the cucumber scented body wash and dumped the whole bottle of soap into the toilet. Tyler was hesitant, but soon enough I caught him following in my footsteps. The strawberry body wash was now in the toilet as well. Lavender, pomegranate, vanilla and brown sugar, kiwi and watermelon, every scent you could imagine. Tyler glanced at me and I flushed the toilet. Bubbles began to rush to the rim and overflow onto the carpet. Tyler and I screamed and our parents came rushing up the stairs. Their feet touched the soggy carpet and their eyes became fixated on the giant tower of bubbles that separated them from us.

Before I could even blink Tyler and I were downstairs on a couch, getting yelled at. “What on Earth were you thinking” my mom yelled. The next day a man was busy ripping up all of our carpet from the townhouse. Mom explained that it had to be done in order to prevent the carpet from mildewing. As I sat in time out, I pulled out my favorite blue crayon and a piece of paper and began to write an apology letter to my parents. My letter read “I am sorry that I made the toilet overflow. I feel really bad about what I did and I honestly did not think that the toilet would overflow; I won’t experiment around the house anymore, unless I have adult supervision.” My mom has had that note hanging on our fridge ever since that incident to make sure that I hold true to my promise.