It has been a while since I posted in this blog...I think my efforts to complete my life story in one year are going to be futile. But, I do think this blog needs to continue. I have so many that are reading and following along, even though they do not post comments. I also feel a need to tell my story....but we are approaching some cautious material.....puberty is right around the corner.....and being from a small town.....and being from a specific neighborhood.....there is a chance that people might start to read things about themselves in the narrative of me telling my own story. It is not my intention to disparage anyone....even those who openly disparaged me at the time. But, I do want to tell the story fully....and that will mean including some details that are uncomfortable for me to share....and it might be uncomfortable for others to read. Please feel free to comment.....but I am probably going to change the names of some of these people just to protect their identities.....so understand and please be respectful.
The year now is 1978. My family and I have moved off of Fairmeadows Road and we now live on South 5th Ave. We live just across an open field to a large park and Hogland Elementary School. We actually moved here in the fall of 1977, but this was our first full year here. This neighborhood had a whole lot of kids living around....most houses were families and many of the kids were around my age. I had already started developing crushes on boys at this time. I still admired and was fascinated by some girls, but when I saw a boy that I thought was attractive....well, that is what seemed to stir me up inside chemically. Those were the people that caught my interest and held it.....if I thought of someone romantically, I thought of one of the boys I knew and not a girl.
Now romance for me at that stage in my life was generally fantasizing about kissing and touching. All pretty innocent stuff. I had already experienced some awkward sessions of playing "doctor" in my old neighborhood. And although that was interesting, it was not what I would think of as romantic...just basic curiosity with both boys and girls.
My new neighborhood was dominated by teen boys. Within about three blocks there were probably 20 boys my age. Most of these boys I had met through my tepid sports careers.... And living right next to a huge open field meant that I would often see these boys out throwing a football, or baseball, or golfing, or really anything sports related that boys would do.....Sometimes I would be able to join in and other times these boys were already aware that I was not too great at sports and they did not want to be bothered with my less than proficient efforts.
Around this time my family bought a huge eight man tent. I guess we thought that someday we would take some big camping trip together. That never happened, but we did set up the tent and I was able to have a sleep over and invite four friends over to sleep outside. In a tent. With electricity and lots of snacks.....we were hardly experiencing "camping". But it was fun.....and it allowed for more fun....maybe sometimes not so innocent. Games like "Truth or Dare" seemed to always evolve into making someone....or many people go streaking outside the tent. Goofy growing up stuff....but I had a secret....and this gave me access to those I was most attracted to in a way that boy/girl interaction would never have allowed. Needless to say, I chose those four boys each year based on our friendship and also on who I thought was pretty cool....in every way. I was constantly trying to be part of the popular boys group. And even though I was able to occasionally hang out with popular people.....I was never considered one of them.
Onto other things from 1978. It was not all about my burgeoning puberty.....really. I now lived only about a mile from the Marshalltown Mall.....and the Mall theaters! I was also old enough to go there on my own. And in the summer of 1978 there was a movie released that would change my life....the film was "Grease". Oh, my God! Grease was a phenomenal experience for me. Just about every aspect of the movie seemed to reach out to me....the music was my instant favorite. In the summer of 1987 I went to see "Grease" a total of four times.....and when it came back to theaters in the fall, I went two more times!
I started a paper route this year and by the end of it I had taken on two routes. I delivered the Times Republican and the Pennysaver. This gave me a little bit of spending money and kept me busy in the afternoons when the papers were delivered. In addition to delivering the papers, I was tasked with "collecting". Going door to door and asking for money.....not the most glamorous thing to do.....but all of this walking gave me time to daydream and listen to my cassette player....it was "building character" is what I was told.
In the Winter of 1978, Hogland Elementary held auditions for a holiday school musical called "The Loneliest Christmas Card". I auditioned and got the boy lead part! How exciting it was for me.....This was the first time I would really perform in front of an audience. And I was hooked!
This production takes us through to the end of 1978. And onto age thirteen next.....
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