Remember when..

My best friend who still lives in the town I went to High school in has been running into people we knew a decade ago. At last count there was the fake id sporting recreational coke head turned mommy with two kids, an ex husband living at her dad's house. The Bi-sexual hostess with the teeny tiny voice hair down to her knees that couldn't quite control her eating disorder, and the 'least popular' cheerleader who's working at our favorite greasy spoon breakfast joint. Two or three kids she wasn't sure since said Cheerleader pretended not to recognize her.

I remember my job in high school probably better than a lot of the other ones I've had since. Mostly because we were all young, all free to do what we wanted when we wanted.

We partied, I killed tequila one fuzzy night with a cook and good looking James I remember us all working very, very drunk the next day and the day after that. I have truly never drank as much ever again. I still can't smell a Margarita without my stomach rolling. At seventeen I had this little apartment with Shannan, the twenty year old waitress who hung out at the Stinker gas station after work every night until four in the morning. We had one of those roll away beds in the living room as a sofa.

My lunch was served out of a never ending bowl of french fries kept on the line and bowls of cucumbers with vinegar off of the salad bar. I paid rent... barely. Went to school most of the time. Learned how to roll a joint but never smoked it. Kept cheap wine that I drank out of the bottle while watching re-runs of Roseanne. I had one towel and one washcloth and a can opener for my tomato soup. All of my kitchen utensils were bought at Big Lots. We had four spoons, four knives four forks. One Spatula one frying pan. It was the most typical existence for my age group. My cook made me a beer bong in my kitchen for my first party that resulted in the roommate knocking a hole through the wall.

And we had Amanda and Cody move in for two months because they were 'broke' The roommate and I spent half of the time on our roll away 'couch' While Cody tied up the phone line and Amanda turned my bedroom into their personal little cave. When they left they emptied our groceries out of the cupboards and took all of the 'good' uniform shirts with them.

I remember loving every minute of it. Being free of curfews and home. My car started half of the time. The bumper was tied on with a really big rubber band and if I stopped to suddenly it would fall off at red lights I would then jump out of the car and shove it back in place before the light turned green. I spent a lot of time at Blockbuster back when we still watched video tapes, had a mild flirtation with a trucker that turned weird before it turned bad.. What was his name again?

My boss had a stupid nickname for me and nine years after I quit he would probably recognize my voice over the phone. I never said no to any shift for any reason. He took amazing advantage of that. It still makes me a little embarrassed at how bad that job was. I quit. When it was time to go to school. Moved on to slightly better restaurants and have worked my way gradually up the chain since then. Good memories, mostly.

It's funny to think back on those days. Remember how much fun there was how free I was. Nothing bothered me. I ditched out on Thanksgiving dinner with the family to go to a poker game. couldn't afford a cell phone, fought with my mother constantly on my lack of direction. I knew my direction. Freedom. Independence. Nobody getting in my way telling me what I was going to do. I was going to travel but really live in places not just go for a week or two. I was going to have as many pairs of shoes as I wanted. And I was going to change the world. Write a book be special some how. I had no idea how I was going to be different from everybody else but I was.

I am free and independent nobody tells me what to do, I have lived everywhere and traveled waiting tables is good for that. I have more shoes than I'll ever need well, people don't really change the world they just control their own. As for the book maybe someday... I count the years by restaurants and places I've lived, twenty to twenty one I was in San Diego twenty one to twenty two Boise twenty two to twenty three Northern Idaho twenty four I went to Africa, twenty five Virginia twenty Six i'm here.