17 again

I can write about anything…I just look at a thing or think of someone and I write…and then I have writers block when it comes down to it. And what or who shall I write about? Did I ever write about the truth or the time I seem to be stuck in? There’s something about my age, my generation that makes us all think we are 17 again. A co-worker looked at me at lunch and said “That’s where I really am…” and she meant... or what I think she meant is; our faces and bodies are growing older, but we see that 17 year old in the 60s and early 70s who really just wanted a few simpler things like:

The Vietnam War to end…

The Beatles ( or The Monkees ) to come to town...

To wear the latest fashions...

To have a boyfriend...

To wear the latest clothes, whether we bought them or sewed them or were given “hand-me-downs” from a friend; I think they call them “vintage” now. There was no doubt that you could wear them, they just fit, it was a 17 year old body! everything fit! If only I had taken pictures of my favorite outfits! We had a closet full, thanks to my brother’s girlfriend, mostly. She brought us her “gently worn” hand me downs every few weeks when we were in the last years of high school. She kept us from taking "that" hit... We were dressed for high school success! From Carnaby Street, where my idol Twiggy was from (Austin Powers, to the youngers) to preppy Gant shirts and Villager skirts and LaTisse purses to Bass Weejuns...no,I never had those, but Donna had Weejuns and we just dreamed about them. We wore saddle-shoes and Mary Jane or “baby doll” shoes mostly. We had “shifts" and mini-skirts with wide belts and micro-mini dresses that we all wore to the Monkees concert ( as close as we were ever gonna get to the Beatles) Jimi Hendrix actually “opened" for the Monkees; it was awesome long before awesome! We borrowed clothes from each other and sewed clothes.

We made shifts, mostly and I made the dress I wore to homecoming. It was a pink satin empire waisted dress with long sleeves and a silver trim around the waist...No pictures though, nobody cared enough to be there or take one for me...

There I was in that short dress and I had another boyfriend at the time, but I went with Chris, instead, 

who I was thinking would make a really nice, new boyfriend, but it didn’t work out. I was too quiet and painfully shy and I spent too many "moments" watching my old boyfriend dancing with that blonde chic instead of making my own moments with Chris on the dance floor, myself. He was handsome and sexy and all I really wanted from him was to dance with him and hear him say
 “you are so pretty tonight” Years later, I found out he carried my picture with him when he was in the Navy and told his buddies I was "gorgeous” Wow.

And as vain as it seems, most  17 year old girls will finally admit that what they really wanted was:

To be called pretty

To have someone tell you that “My Girl” by The Temptations reminded them of you,

 instead of feeling like you were being directly sung to when
"Hey There Lonely Girl" came on the radio.

To be a stewardess or model; anything that might take you NYC. 

There were no long term dreams, we loved and lived in that 17 year old moment.

I lived a lot age 15 to 17 and I did not do drugs or sleep around…sometimes I wonder  why I didn’t…

 I guess it was The Baptist church that kept me wholesome, and Dee and I went every week...

To hear the gospel preached? Hell, no! ( but it sure rubbed off) There were some really cute boys at
 that church and we wanted to date all of them. Bobby was one of them, so was Jim and Kenny and
Steve and even Paul...but he was always in the "friend" zone and he knew it and paid me back in
other ways. He told Steve's mother that I was pregnant, which was not true, I told you I was wholesome, didn't I ? What a jerk!

 To this day he denies it and Stevie's mom was so pissed that she  beat the crap out of him with

 a fly swatter for that little lie. She thought I wasn't good enough for her baby boy and that I lived on the wrong side of The Boulevard.
 Just because she saw us kissing at the beach one day. Big deal, lady!
We were "just" kissing. Years later he said it was one of his "most memorable moments" in a 25 year class reunion booklet.
What the hell? He needs to find the nearest bridge and "get over it"
Thought I was gonna say "Jump off of it" huh? Nah, he was cute and sweet,
but he was a Mama's Boy, that's all...

17 again...a simpler, more complicated time? You bet...Would I change anything? Sure, why not?
People that say they wouldn't seem delusional to me. Why wouldn't you change to make things better for you and others?
 What? Worried about messing up the space-time continuum? What a crock!
That just happens in movies, or does it?

And the way she looked was way beyond compare...