I have my 13-year-old granddaughter, Lizzie, and her friend Kate, to thank for starting this blog. After watching “High School Musical” my granddaughter and her friend told me they couldn’t wait to be in high school. With great enthusiasm, they declared, “It’s going to be awesome!” I told the girls I knew exactly how they felt. I revealed that my high school days were pretty awesome back in the 1950s. I told them, "Of course we didn’t use the term awesome back then. We said, "swell" or just plain ol’ "fun"! Actually, it was the best!”
The girls looked at me with disbelief. After all, they were fairly certain their generation invented fun. Lizzie was quick to say, “What could you have done for fun back then? You didn’t have video games, computers or cell phones. You couldn’t text your friends or go to the mall. Did they even have movies way back then?”
I guess I should have been insulted. Did she think I was a teenager before movies were invented? My teenage years did seem like a hundred years ago, but then in a way, to me, it seemed like only yesterday.
I told the girls that not only had movies been invented, but they were a big part of our lives. Then I provided a few details of what a really "swell" Saturday night was like.
I told them, "The night would start out with everyone dragging main street, either with dates, or with a group of friends. The boys would have their 1950 Chevy's and Fords all clean and sparkling bright. After dragging main, to see who all was in town, we would go roller skating until time for the midnight show at the Palace Theatre. I remember seeing "Sunset Blvd." the night a couple of boys got kicked out of the show for throwing popcorn."
This didn't add up to a lot of fun to them. Of course they didn't know what it was like to see dreamy William Holden bigger than life on the screen. But then I told them, "After the movie, most of the kids would go for Coca-Colas or milk shakes at Rex's Drive In. We usually got home about 2 a.m." Just thinking about it made me smile. There was one thing missing that I don't think they realized. I had to tell them, "Not only was it fun for us kids, it was all innocent fun!”
If I read their faces correctly, it seemed they agreed my typical Saturday night sounded fairly "awesome." I think what really sparked their interest was when I told them we stayed out until 2 a.m!
Lizzie couldn't wait to ask, "Were you a freshman then?"
It was obvious where this was going. She hoped if I was a freshman staying out that late, then I would be able to convince her parents that she could stay out past midnight too. After all, if Gran did it, why couldn't she. Two a.m. sounded very appealing. I knew I needed to explain in more detail about how things were different back then. They needed to know that "innocent fun" was just that, FUN!
I quickly informed the girls that I was a sophomore when all this happened. I told them that the kind of fun we had was special, and if they really wanted to, they could have that kind of fun now. To be more convincing, I told them I kept a diary.
Kate seemed curious and said, “You mean you blogged back then?"
Lizzie followed with, "This I have to see!”
Upstairs, from an old trunk, I brought out my sophomore diary. As Lizzie and Kate flipped through the pages I could see they saw me in a whole different light. As my life unfolded before them, I wondered if they noticed that the worst thing we girls ever did was try and smoke a couple of cigarettes. I think my life seemed appealing to them. I wondered if others would feel the same.
And so from the pages of my diary, this blog was born.
Wednesday - May 7
