Joy's post today
http://joyofsix.typepad.com/
about 'body piercing' brought this to mind - this little bit of a story I wrote last year and posted on my AOL Journal/blog,Juniper's World.
Posted-Aug, 2005
This was written-not to offend anyone- (Young friends-grandkids :) )
but just in remembering back - WAY BACK- to my own young years and how
peer pressure has always been!
...as I listen to an early collection of ELVIS, I can well remember the beginning of 'Rock and Roll'...
the new dances... THE TWIST!
...the mid-calf, full skirts of the girls with multi-layered and multi-colored
(And, oh so stiff and uncomfortable) crinolines underneath! (Jeans were not worn much by girls
in those days- not allowed in schools at all!)
...the levis of the boys, with rolled cuffs...button-up shirts (with turned up cuff on one side to hold
a pack of cigarettes) with just the lower buttons closed...the upper chest exposed!
Oh! WOW!!
...the Duck-Tail hair cuts that became a fad for both girls and boys! Very short cut, with both sides
brushed toward the center in back! Pony tails, too, were still in style! Long, straight hair was not in fashion
- curls were!! (smile)
...the sneaked smokes in the bathrooms....
SO- with those thoughts, I give you this...
Fitting In
She stands to the side, watching as the girls and boys mingle.
So self-assured the girls seem, with their hair- just so- the latest styles – going this way and that! ”How?” she wonders,”How does it stand so straight up…defying gravity?”
Some have sections falling, provocatively, across one eye, as impossibly straight hanging down, as the others’ Hair-dos are, sticking straight up!
She then notices the jeans! They are all long and faded, frayed at the bottom… patches! On most they are WAY below the bellybutton line …and she sees sparkly bangles attached to some girl’s bellybuttons! Gaudy belts attract any eye that might have missed looking, to that exposed, tight - or tubby- tummy. (As the case may be.)
Tattoos decorate many lower backs. “…Purely for the enjoyment of the onlooker.” she decides, as she can’t imagine these busy girls spending that much time with a 3-way mirror, admiring their own tattoos! Some are sporting rings in unexpected parts of their, otherwise, pretty faces! She gets a glimpse of sparkle in one girl’s mouth as she laughs with the mixed group of friends!
She looks, sadly, at her own, newly bought- mom approved- school clothes…of trim slacks and securely tucked in blouse. She runs her fingers through her freshly shampooed, naturally curly, un-teased, un- moussed and un-sprayed hair… wishing she had spiky or straight hair instead of curls!
Slowly, she un-tucks her neat blouse and quickly ties the two sides into a knot high above her slacks, directly beneath the bust-line she desperately wishes was more impressive!
Tentatively, she takes her first steps toward the girl with the butterfly tattoo across her lower back; with it’s bottom wings disappearing well below the beltline of her low slung jeans…
June Kellum
2005
Photo:
June- (ME) 1955
Redland Jr. High, South Florida
Many folks would like to be young again but I wouldn't care to go back to the teen years - too many turmoils. Wouldn't mind being 40 again though. :) ec
ReplyDeleteyou're right- lots of turmoils connected to the teen years!
ReplyDeleteI guess my happiest times were when my babies were little- OR when my grand-babies wee little! :)
I have very fond memories of my teen years, and very often they pop up in my dreams...just like it was yesterday; but I think my best years were as a young mother too Junie. So many wonderful moments with the babes....
ReplyDeleteTo Joy,
ReplyDeleteI was barley 18 with my first child and my other 2 came before I was 22- so, along with the fun there was also a lot of anxiety of trying to do everything just right- and keeping my house perfectly in order at all times! It was 'on job training!' :)
Looking back, I wish I could have been more relaxed in those earlier years. Not to say I didn't do a lot with my kids-as far as fun things...It was mostly just HOME fun, tho!
I didn't realize you were such a young mom Junie...now I REALLY admire you...even more than I did. You literally were growing up along with your kids...what a GREAT job you did. I mean that with all my heart! I was 23 when I had my first daughter...my twin daughters at 25..then my son at 29. No matter how it came down... WE were busy moms. We did a LOT of things together; but I truly believe the "home fun" was the best..and, I'm pretty sure my kids would agree...they still talk about it all.
ReplyDeleteYes, Joy, I really was a kid when I had my babies.
ReplyDeleteI realize that when I look a my grandkids - one who is age 18 now! :) )
:) I remember my girls liked the fact that I was younger than most of their friend's moms!