Well I have - the year was 1988, actually September 1987 - September 1988
This was the year I spread my wings (and unfortunately legs - oh wait, sorry, that was probably not necessary to share) and left the family home...
Moved over 200 km away from the folks and thought I could manage life on my own..
Now mind you I was 17 and invincible... at least I thought I was... and did alot of things that are better left forgotten...
Now almost 20 years later, looking back, I have very little recollection of this time, why you ask... one word - Excess
You name it, I pretty much did it - if I liked it - I did it more, and more, and more...
Why this trip down memory lane now?? Well I have been cleaning up some crap (see previous post) and came upon a small black journal that I inconsistently kept during that time...
Reading through the mainly incoherent ramblings of a idiot I realize that I never want to be there again and that I must destroy this book!
What if I'm hit by a bus tomorrow and the boy grows up and reads this shit....
God, I'm sure I've given him enough "material" to keep him in therapy until he is 80 already let alone him reading about my adventures during the lost year...
What boy needs to read about his mother's talent tying cherry stems in knots with her tongue, illegal activities involving tinfoil and clubhouse sandwiches, cleaning squirrel shit from some guys apartment floor for a couple of fatties, getting felt up by a roadie from the band Nazareth (anybody remember Nazareth,"Love Hurts") and the night I almost died...
I did get a good chuckle reading excerpts about this guy "Gary" that I lived with during that time...(platonic relationships strictly - he had a freakishly large head)
Gary hitchhiked across the country to get some magic mushrooms in B.C. and came back with the snazziest moccasins, two black eyes, and a new appreciation for the way the world worked... Ha, wonder what ever happened to Gary...
So now I am feel somewhat nauseous with the trip down a very foggy memory lane but very appreciative of how sucky my life is now...
Kumbaya kids...
4 comments:
I'm interested in the illegal acts involving tin foil.
Sounds fun.
And even though 22-24 were the best years of my life, I'm happy where I am now. I don't think I'd have the energy to keep up.
I've lost a year of my life as well! I wasn't 17, it was 21 for me. It's not that I have a black void where the recollections should be, it's that they feel like the memories of someone else, while memories of times before and afer that year are decidedly mine.
Have you ever watched the show "Northern Exposure"? It was the character of Chris Stevens on that show who coined the phrase "my lost year" for me, and I've used it many times in my writing.
By the way, I love the way you call him "the boy". Your writing is full of life. I think you should delve deep into your black notebook and let us all enjoy it.
Yes it was an interesting time but alas sooo long ago..
Freak - I'd love to elaborate more on the tinfoil thing but I'd hate to influence any young impressionables that may stumble this way - Ha
True - thanks for the kind words and I soooo loved Chris from Northern Exposure - would have loved to have lost a year with him... Sorry about further stories from the black notebook but it is gone the way of last weeks spaghetti, off to our local landfill - where it belongs...
Don't worry though - got lots of fuzzy memories from the old college days to divulge in the near future...
Cheers Kids
that was the year I lost too!
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