The Cellar - My Summer of '67

Funny but recent stories about the 6 Day War in 1967 reminded me that 50 years ago my parents took us on a trip to Europe as they did about every other year. My mother worked in PR for El Al Airlines and one of the perks was plane tickets so my parents, myself and my older 3 siblings left in early June for our vacation that included Italy, Israel and Greece. I remember it pretty well, I was turning 11 in July and dad rented a car and we drove all over Italy, stayed in Rome, did the Amalfi coast, etc.

Our second destination was Israel but while we were in Italy the Israelis took out most of their Arab neighbors military. Hard to believe but my parents felt it was ok for us to go on with our trip. I remember seeing soldiers and military vehicles everywhere. We stayed in Tel Aviv, I remember eating breakfast at the King David Hotel where they served me small cakes for breakfast that were nothing like pancakes we had back home and no bacon because it comes from pigs. We went to the Dead Sea where the water was so salty it made me cry when I got in my eyes by accident. Bethlehem and other places that were important to Christians were on our tour.

After that we went to Greece, spent a few days in Athens seeing all the typical spots but then went to the island of Athena and spent a few days swimming and playing on the beach, a much needed fun few days after so many cities, churches and museum tours.

July came and my parents gave me Sargent Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band as a birthday present. I liked it and listened to it every day. 3 days after my birthday I was riding home from the community pool and my towel fell down and jammed the front wheel causing my fact to slam into the handlebars and knock out 4 permanent front teeth. My dad was out of town on business and I remember my mom taking me to the one big emergency hospital in Atlanta. I had to have 42 stitches to reattach my lower lip to my gums. The teeth were knocked clear out and my grandmother found them in the street outside our home which luckily was where the accident occurred. I still have those teeth somewhere.

That was a summer with several ups and downs. Later before school started I had to be fitted for removable dentures which I wore until I was 18 and my mouth was done growing and I could get bridges.