Summer of '81

This was a photo taken by my brother for a friend of his, who had a big crush on me.  They knocked on the door and surprise, when I opened it they snapped the photo.  My brother was supposed to give it to him when it was developed...but I have it now..HA HA!!  Oh Summer of '81 how I miss you!  Good times!

I love Summertime, but the Summer of '81 really stands out for me.  First of all, it was the summer before my Senior year in high school...it was also the summer where I had my braces removed (hooray!).  Thankfully they were removed the day after the last day of school of my junior year, and prior to my senior portrait for the yearbook, so I wouldn't eternally be remembered as brace face.  During that summer, me and my friend Michelle started hanging out with some neighborhood boys.  We met them while we were walking around the neighborhood and came upon a high school graduation party that June.  We ended up befriending them and started hanging out that summer.  They had gone to our high school, but we didn't really know them too well as they were a little older than us.  Needless to say, it was a magical summer, staying out late and just being a teenager. We basically just hung out in the woods near the train tracks and drank, smoked and talked, mostly about music, school and people we knew.  It was all in fun and we never bothered anyone.  I had crushes on all of the guys in our group at one time or another that summer.  During the day I worked at a Tennis Club, which explains my cute little tennis outfits in the photos, but at night, that was when we had fun!  Now that I'm much, much, much, much older, I look back on those days and remember the fun times of my youth. Recently, I found out that one of the guys from the group passed away back in 2004 at the age of 41.  I suppose that is why I'm getting so sentimental for those days when we were all young and alive and full of promise.  Drew, I know that you have been gone for a little while, but you have not been forgotten.  I must admit, when we met you and all the other guys at that party, I had a huge crush on you, but you probably never knew it.  Sad to hear that you are gone, but hopefully we can hang out in the afterlife and share good times again! 

I'm in the white shirt next to my sister in her Mill Creek t-shirt.  This was taken the Summer of '81 when we had a family reunion at my parent's house.