Sunday, March 20, 2011

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Last month, when I went to THE MISSION to meet up with some classmates, I was quiet, and sat in a seat and 'people watched'. There was another planned get together last night, and this time, Mr. P went with me so I had a driver.

I don't know how many cosmos I drank.....either 5 or 6. Mr. P thinks 6, I think 5, but regardless, at this point, does ONE difference really matter? I do drink alcohol, but not generally to excess. So, this was quite in excess!! But HOW FUN was it?

First of all, I'd like to thank Casey, Wendell and Teenie for buying me drinks and Gary for offering. You guys BOYS were buying me drinks (except Teenie....she's not a boy)!! Now, I'm thinking Mr. P wasn't so thrilled, but it was polite, not like a 'pick up'. They were generous and thoughtful and I found it charming. Here I go a bit with my convoluted memories of my youth compared to now:

As a teenager, I was very tiny and 'cute'. Not stunning, not beautiful, but 'cute'. I always wanted to be the Homecoming queen and a cheerleader, but I didn't fit the popularity bill OR the athleticism that cheerleaders needed. I desperately wished I was popular. As if that would 'make' me or something.

Now, I'm a grown up. Still cute (LOL), however not so tiny. I'm the one in the class that gained the weight and feels self conscious. I'm the one who worries that people judge---even though I have NO reason to feel this way.

I'm also so ashamed of me as a young person and I'm sure OTHERS as young people. We were abhorrent to one another in High School. You had to fit in with certain 'cliques' to be recognized, or to be thought highly of. We JUDGED one another based on looks, not personality or if we 'clicked' with anyone. I look at my teen (and 20's) kids and know that they, too, will realize that friends are made way differently in LIFE than in High School.

The group of people that tend to come most of the time are awesome. And we've had many people that drop in that we haven't seen in years! The beautiful thing about it is that FINALLY we treat each other as people and not as high school pigeonholed stereotypes. Well, there are SOME that still gravitate towards the same 'types' of people that one may think is 'supposed' to be, but even those individuals are happy, and seemingly interested in everyone. EVERYONE....not just the 'popular' kids or the 'rich' kids or the whatever label we had back then.

Teenie came with Mr. P and me, and PeePee came for a while, which totally THRILLED me because she's so beautiful, and so many people there know her dad....my brother...who is 3 full years younger than me, so it always funny to me to see the reaction to my YOUNGER brother having a 25 yr old daughter. Sorry, Jeff....but it is entertaining to see people's eyes when I tell them.

My dear friend Bill knew PeePee right away without being introduced. Bill( (who is a female) and I have been friends for 25 years, and she knew my family well. She knows Jeff and that he was a teenage father. She stopped next to PeePee last night and said how BEAUTIFUL she is and that she's a perfect mix of her mother and father....which is very true. She certainly inherited the good stuff.......I was impressed with Bills ability to know EXACTLY who my beautiful niece was, because of resemblance!! lol.

Anyway, despite the fact we 45 year olds were playing out a teen 'coming of age' movie, it was so fun. Oh, except for when I got choked and spat my mouthful of COSMO onto Teenie. God, that was mortifying. I mean I guess I'm glad it was her, but still.......despite the fact I was pretty tipsy, I had my bearings enough to know how AWFUL that was! I just coughed at the wrong time and looked like a fool. Sorry, Teenie. I know you probably had to shower off the sticky residue of my cosmopolitan.

So, here's a shout out to the class of 1984....and the classes surrounding that have people that stop in.....it's a blast and THANK GOODNESS we behave far differently now than we did then. For me, it's appreciated and noted that just because we may not have been close years ago, doesn't mean we can't become friends now. And thanks for Mr. P for sitting there looking smokin'hot. I got a good one, girls!! He says he didn't like the boys buying me drinks, but he had his share of girls trying to talk to people at our table and um, MAN handling him and pressing all over him to get close to hear people, so I think we're even. He now knows one girl far better than I ever will!! lol! He hates the social scene, so I hope he goes with me again. My core group of friends tried to help and make sure he was comfortable, but still.....he's leery of this type of thing. It's awesome that he cares enough to come with me and be my driver so I can act a fool now and then!!

Toodles for now. I'm going to try to convince Mr. Perfectly to take me to an auction. More on that later.

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