Flashback, circa 1999
The summer after my freshman year of college was one of the best summers of my life. Taking into account that my life, more specifically my social life, had not been such an exciting one until I went to college anyway, this shouldn't be too much of a surprise. The thing about me is that I went through high school as one of the "popular kids." I was a cheerleader you see, and in Texas that's about as close to celebrity as a small town girl can get. Everyone knew my name and I made good grades and played sports and spoke my mind in a constructive way and made everyone feel comfortable. I had friends who were jocks, theater kids and even alternateens. I was an equal opportunity friend, but I was boring. I didn't drink or smoke pot which meant that even though everyone knew me, no one hung out with me. I spent weekend nights at home alone and only heard about the parties on Monday morning.
When I went away to college I fell victim to the freedom and free beer like most freshman, a trait I held onto through the summer of 1999. Which was about the same time I rekindled a friendship with a group of girls whom I had known since we were roughly six years old. We had always been friends but that summer we all re-connected and spent every minute together. We had parties at people's houses while their parents were away, drinking White Russians by the pool and laying out on the trampoline looking at the stars talking about our dreams. We danced all night and took long walks in the dark. We made out with gay boys, for practice, and sat baking by the water certain things woud never be better.
This past Saturday night I met up with those old friends again. Being back in Texas is like slipping into your favorite hoodie, all warm and soft and full of memories, and meeting up again with these amazing women comes with that same kind of ease that is always comforting. Anytime we get together it's like nothing has changed, we haven't skipped a beat. And even though one of the women is married now, another one of them is almost there, and the last is much like myself and still searching, things fall into place with ease. We ended up in Walburg, Texas, about a fifteen minute drive through some winding country roads, at place that sold two dollar beers. We sat outside and listened to the country cover band and inevitabley ran into old friends, locals who have remained in and around the town in which we grew up. After the party ended we headed to the swimming pool in the back yard of one of the friends boyfriend's house since his parents were out of town. We went for a midnight swim and sipped on Honey Brown Ale. It was like time slowed down for a bit and we were all nineteen again and we laughed and reminisced and it all felt so familiar. Some summer memories are just as good the second time around.
The summer of '99 girls, all grown up
The summer after my freshman year of college was one of the best summers of my life. Taking into account that my life, more specifically my social life, had not been such an exciting one until I went to college anyway, this shouldn't be too much of a surprise. The thing about me is that I went through high school as one of the "popular kids." I was a cheerleader you see, and in Texas that's about as close to celebrity as a small town girl can get. Everyone knew my name and I made good grades and played sports and spoke my mind in a constructive way and made everyone feel comfortable. I had friends who were jocks, theater kids and even alternateens. I was an equal opportunity friend, but I was boring. I didn't drink or smoke pot which meant that even though everyone knew me, no one hung out with me. I spent weekend nights at home alone and only heard about the parties on Monday morning.
When I went away to college I fell victim to the freedom and free beer like most freshman, a trait I held onto through the summer of 1999. Which was about the same time I rekindled a friendship with a group of girls whom I had known since we were roughly six years old. We had always been friends but that summer we all re-connected and spent every minute together. We had parties at people's houses while their parents were away, drinking White Russians by the pool and laying out on the trampoline looking at the stars talking about our dreams. We danced all night and took long walks in the dark. We made out with gay boys, for practice, and sat baking by the water certain things woud never be better.
This past Saturday night I met up with those old friends again. Being back in Texas is like slipping into your favorite hoodie, all warm and soft and full of memories, and meeting up again with these amazing women comes with that same kind of ease that is always comforting. Anytime we get together it's like nothing has changed, we haven't skipped a beat. And even though one of the women is married now, another one of them is almost there, and the last is much like myself and still searching, things fall into place with ease. We ended up in Walburg, Texas, about a fifteen minute drive through some winding country roads, at place that sold two dollar beers. We sat outside and listened to the country cover band and inevitabley ran into old friends, locals who have remained in and around the town in which we grew up. After the party ended we headed to the swimming pool in the back yard of one of the friends boyfriend's house since his parents were out of town. We went for a midnight swim and sipped on Honey Brown Ale. It was like time slowed down for a bit and we were all nineteen again and we laughed and reminisced and it all felt so familiar. Some summer memories are just as good the second time around.
The summer of '99 girls, all grown up
posted by Ebony @ 12:35 PM
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