Summer Lovin’

I saw this sign the other day and snapped a shot of it (because I had my iPhone with me . . . Hi, iPhone!  I’m still in the honeymoon stage with you, I love you so much, can we go away together sometime soon?).  Anyway, seeing this sign evoked quite a response in me:

These are the words that evoked the response (as if you couldn’t guess):  8th Grade Dance.

Aaaaaannnnd I’m VAULTED back to 1984, JUST like that.  Despite the fact that I didn’t get asked to dance all that much at these junior high dances (and most certainly not by the boys I wanted to get asked by *ahem* Tom Daniel, oh wait HI KELLEY, his wife who reads this blog and is a friend of mine), I still looked forward to these dances with an enthusiasm that can only be described as . . . well, as the enthusiasm of an 8th grade girl going to a dance.  The boys were a big part of it OF COURSE OF COURSE OF COURSE (aren’t they always?) but mostly it was the girly stuff that was so fun.  Like the REALLY BIG QUESTIONS:  What to wear? Oh, and also what to wear?  And of course, what to wear?  And once that was decided, then all my little girlfriends and I would get together right before the dance and immediately switch clothes with each other.  I also seem to remember a LOT of giggling.  

Then we went to the dance.  And we danced.  And when I say that, let me remind you it was the mid-80’s so I mean it:  we danced.  Even though this was only (ONLY????) 25 years ago, I will tell you the following, in absolute honesty.  At our 8th grade dances, there was no drinking and no smoking and no sex(ing?).  I like to think it’s that way still at these junior high dances but, well, on some level that seems completely impossible nowadays.  I’m not saying there wasn’t some kissing going on here and there at our dances but let me put it this way:  I remember kissing a boy at an 8th grade dance and feeling the peach fuzz on his face when our cheeks brushed against each other.  But that’s all.  Just this sweet, perfect, innocent kiss (see how hard I’m trying not to come right out and say NO TONGUE without coming right out and saying NO TONGUE?).  

So even though I wasn’t THAT girl, the one all the boys wanted to dance with and moon over and blah blah blah, I do remember those dances with a lot of fondness.  And I ache with a little bit of sadness, too, to be honest, since I wasn’t THAT girl and I knew it and that made life seem a little harder.  But I did have those girlfriends (Hi, Bonnie, Patricia and Angela!) and we did do a LOT of giggling at those dances.  And then some more giggling when we got back in the car when someone’s dad picked us up and asked us “Well girls, how was it?” 

Giggle, giggle, giggle.

Tags: 8th grade dance, giggle, honeymoon stage, iPhone, no drinking, no smoking