I remember when the Tropicana had the amusement park.... a core memory of my childhood is when the zipper broke on my outfit (one of those 80's/90's biker short one pieces with shoulder cutouts.... hot pink and purple. A site to behold!) and I was in the bathroom crying, no way to get ahold of my mom & stepdad, and one of the employees came in with her lanyard with all her buttons, and gave me a bunch to button up the front of my outfit, and then took me to the rollercoaster and let me ride a bunch of times. My brother had been somewhere in there too, but since he was older he was too cool to hang out with me and immediately left me to myself. I was probably 7 or 8? We spent so much time there, I actually have some photos I took one Christmas where I drew the AC boardwalk with the Trop as the main focus, and took pictures of my Barbies in front of it like they were on vacation.

I have a dozen or so that I use every time I go shopping. I started using reusable bags when the plastic bag ban was announced but before it went into effect so I could get used to it. It’s like second nature to me now.