"Dang...that thing's erected like a mother...!" (part I)

It was the late 1980's-a time when Debbie Gibson ruled, 90210 and Melrose place were the shows to watch, and preppie girls rolled up their shorts and t-shirt sleeves! A time when you could smoke in the mall, there were no cell phones, and no internet! Sega Genesis was the big game system, and all your music was on a tape. I lived in a medium- sized town in southern Florida where it seemed like everyone was just a preppie cliche. Except for us.
Skateboarding was still underground everywhere except for California, I mean this was before all the "Skateboarding is not a crime..." that was the result. I feel like my friends and I were the beginning of a movement. Now, in the beginning I did NOT skateboard, that would come later. But I LOVED to watch it, talk about it, rent Bones Brigade or Vision videos, and I loved the MUSIC!! It was our chance to be different. At first people thought we were weird. I remember 9th grade we had to do an oral report on a generation or era and I did mine on the punk rock movement. I brought in a Sex Pistols tape and when I played it some people COVERED THEIR EARS. We hung out at the movie theatre, not to go see a movie, but to hang out behind it and that'd where everyone would meet, bring ramps , etc. This was (for us) pre-drugs, and no one would drink and skate, so that was a sober place at first too.
Even within our "group" there was segregation, depending on your skating ability. That didn't pertain to me, I was friends with everyone since there were only about 4 girls and 30-50 boys. My brother and most of the kids I hung out with in Jr. High were the "sucky skaters." Of course the awesome skaters were also the hot ass skaters- so those were the ones I liked to watch!! We were so crazy and carefree, sometimes I look back and miss it so much. A song will just flash me back to that period, and make me smile. We hung out sometimes at different spots we called "the rope swing 1, 2, 3, etc." They were basically little ponds or secluded spots on the gulf where they made rope swings. We would spend all day jamming music, I would bring a bag of wine coolers (!) that I got from the grocery store I worked at. I was a total daredevil and always the only or first girl to attempt the rope swing. We also went "pool hopping." Naples is a city right on the gulf. There are TONS of hotels, motels, and inns of all sizes along the water. We would go at night and sneak into the pools and hot tubs until a security guard came. We were caught more than once but always managed to get out of it. We had two spots that e called "1st story jump, " and 3rd story jump." (Man we were creative) I'm sure you can figure it out-there was one hotel where there were 2 floors and the pool was right next to the hotel. We would climb to the top of the first floor and run and jump into the pool! That usually lasted about 1 time for each of us before we had to run. But the 3rd story jump was just insane! I DID not try it! It was a 3 story hotel, on top of the roof is was all that really fine rocks, the pool was about 10 ft away from hotel. They climbed to the top, ran as fast as possible without slipping, and jumped...........That usually lasted about 3 people before all hell broke loose. The hotel BUILT A FENCE ON THE ROOF to prevent us from doing that! It is STILL there! I was there in April and made sure.
As I said, life was carefree. I was never really serious about boys and my "relationships" never lasted. One day we were at the movies during the day, which was weird for us. Everyone was skating and all of the sudden the cops came and at that time they would threaten to arrest you for skatebording or even hanging out. Everyone scrambled and I got stuck leaving in this van with some guys I KNEW OF,but didn't really KNOW. They were known as the best skaters in town. Phil was driving and I was in back with Gonz and Leith. I had seen them before and thought Leith was really cute but he was super quiet. Mike wasn't-he kept being totally perverted, climbing all over me and the seats and trying to flash me. "Did you see that Leith?" Mike said. "No, what?" said Leith. "DANG, THAT THING'S ERECTED LIKE A MOTHER!"
That of course became the new catch phrase.