To Niagara Falls
Once word of the breakup got out, I almost immediately got a call from Scott J.
He was a cute guy I’d known for a few years, and who was on the wrestling team.
With deadweight Mike now a non-issue, I was free to play the field (and I did just that until I became serious with my fiancé in college).
The school year ended, and Scott and I began hanging out and going swimming at his house. He was a really nice guy, and came to my mother’s birthday party later that summer, in August. He also came down the shore with us, and my cousins thought he was cute. Eye of the Tiger by Survivor reminds me of Scott, who let me wear his sterling arrowhead pendant.
“Holiday Road” by Lindsey Buckingham
Lindsey Buckingham – Holiday Road
Steven had to attend summer school that year, so Aunt Marietta came to stay at our house for a week while Mom, Dad and I took a trip to Niagara Falls, Canada.
What a fun trip that was! It was reminiscent of the 1971 drive to Miami (in the ’66 Caddy Sedan DeVille), when I was 4, just us three. And we had a BALL.
Mom liked the song Abracadabra by the Steve Miller Band and it played a lot on the radio. She and I danced to it in the motel room.
There was no carsickness, and Dad allowed me to steer for much of the drive, and I sat in the middle between them. It was so much fun … Mom and Dad were so cool, and full of so much life and adventure. Mom was experiencing a good phase, and wore a wig.
The song Hold Me by Fleetwood Mac always reminds me of that trip and also dating Scott. Brings me right back to that northward road with the best couple of parents a girl ever could want, and wearing the pendant of a pretty cute guy.
“Hold Me” by Fleetwood Mac
We visited West Point and stopped for a couple of days at Seneca Lodge near Watkins Glen State Park on the way up. We tried to swim at the hotel but the water was too cold.
Amazingly, when we arrived, I heard the rat-a-tat-tat of a snare drum outside, and I saw this kid about my age out back (his folks lived nearby, I guess) playing a field snare. You want to see two kids hit it off quicker? He let me play the drum too. Very cool.
We also stayed at a TraveLodge in Utica, NY one night. There was a HUGE thunderstorm that I watched from the motel window, and I thought I saw lightning strike somewhere in the distance.
We spent a day in Niagara Falls, admiring the millions of cascading gallons of water on the Canada side, contemplated renting a barrel, and donned hooded raincoats to “go under” the Falls on a tour.
On the way back, we visited Mom’s old nursing friend Judy M in Clinton Corners. She had been the catalyst for Mom’s joining Christ Memorial Lutheran Church in 1976. Her daughter Nancy and I attended junior high and confirmation classes together.
One last stop in the Newburgh, NY area found us at Dad’s old friend Dolly’s house for an afternoon. Dolly and Fred had attended Mom’s nursing school graduation party in 1977 and brought us kids the giant Sugar Daddies.
Well, Fred was a professional jazz drummer, so guess where I spent my visit? Downstairs in their rec room/drum studio. Fred also gave me a pair of marching sticks, which I still have. We remained in touch, though sadly, Fred passed away in July 2013.
Playing the Field
1982 was a really fun summer.
My 23-year-old cousin Mona, Dad’s sister Dolores’ younger daughter, came to stay with us for an indefinite period of time. This was to escape the Newark party environment and some bad relationships.
Our family room downstairs, with its captain’s bed that doubled as a sofa, became her “bedroom”, and she claimed the half-bath as her own.
Suddenly, I had an “older sister” living with us and we immediately became close in each other’s lives; mine being the typical suburban high schooler’s and hers the worldly, city-upbringing with experience with men, and the drug scene she desperately needed to flee.
“Your Imagination” by Hall & Oates
Hall & Oates – Your Imagination
Songs from the summer of ’82 include Your Imagination by Hall and Oates, Nice Girls by Eye to Eye, Route 101 by Herb Alpert, You Can Do Magic by America, and Forget Me Nots by Patrice Rushen.
I saw Mike at the summer music program at the high school, and he was very warm and friendly. I know he saw the pendant. I remained reserved and cool.
Scott and I had dated about two months before it was time to move on. Mona thought he was cute.
For the rest of the summer, I went out on a few dates with some guys I knew; one time I went to Seaside with John P, a 6’ 4” trumpet player who had just graduated that summer.
Mike S (of ASTA fame) took me to a movie, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan one night. The movie wasn’t my cup of tea, but he was nice enough. We had a goodnight kiss when he dropped me off.
I also went out with Tom R, a year older than me from my Biology class the previous term. He took me to a Jerry Garcia concert at the Rutgers Athletic Center with his friend Marty. (Among the trippy clouds and crowds of Deadheads, I believe I was arguably the only sober soul in attendance.)
“Nice Girls” by Eye To Eye
Another time I went to Sandy Hook down the shore with Eric S, the older brother of a friend at church. In my one-piece tank, I was interviewed for a local newscast for my opinion on their establishing a nude beach there.
My comment was “No place is right for a nude beach … why do you think God made bathing suits?” We watched the news that night to catch the clip. Eric and I were together a couple of weeks.
I also met a guy named Rob at Grande Pizzarama on Route 18 (owned by Mona’s eventual in-laws; formerly A&S Pizza). He invited me to his swimming pool a couple of times. Todd Rundgren’s Bang On the Drum All Day (by then my theme song) was popular and we used to try to work out the chords on the piano. He played guitar too.
As I became a regular member of the dating scene, my pipe dreams of M. permanently evaporated.
Not surprisingly, it became rather easy to make small talk with him at church, and I found that he was really a shy guy and very sincere. It was good to move beyond the old junior-high angst of intimidation and humiliation.
“Situation” by Yaz
One day when we were visiting Uncle Johnny and Aunt Maryann in Fairfield, I met a guy named Tom D who was friends with my cousin John. Tom also drove a 1975 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, a chick magnet as I saw it.
Tom was also cute in that dark, smoldering Italian way and we hung out, taking some rides in his car. He played Situation by Yaz on the tape deck and we did some making out. The only drawback was that he was a smoker, but … dang, the guy was fine.
I spent the first week of August at ASTA again, this time a seasoned conference member and having every bit as much fun as the previous year, only now I was free to ogle every cute guy in Glassboro.
The talented S. brothers, Joe, Mike (whom I’d dated earlier that summer) and Larry, were in college and participating as counselors.
