Bicycle time machine...

 
(Not quite the same as 'Hot Tub Time Machine,' but that's probably a good thing.)

Now that the weather is MAGNIFICENT and I'm kind of done with the gluttonous behavior of Summer, I've been hitting the trail, so to speak, in my efforts to wage guerilla warfare on this danged fat roll of mine.

(And by trail, I mean road but trail makes me sound more macho don't you think?)

So today in an attempt to assuage boredom in my usual routine,  I maneuvered my trusty steed over to the neighborhood where I used to hang out as a tween/teen.  Now that I'm an adult I pretty much see the Plantation as a calm neighborhood where several of my adult friends live with their children... you know, a real family neighborhood.

However, as I pedaled down the main street and passed by the house of my first real boyfriend (who happened to be named Jamey... not weird right?) My Ipod suddenly shuffled to this...

 
And lo and behold, out of a couple hundred songs, Jamie's Cryin' filtered through my ear buds.

Whoa.

You wanna talk about having a flashback? This one fired on all cylinders.

As my scrappin buddies learned a long time ago, I have strong connections to songs and can generally related stories, detail by detail, which can be kind of interesting depending on the song. 

And that's what happened today.  Jamie's Cryin' came on and I was immediately back to 1984-85 cruisin' down to Coffee Bluff Marina with Paula and Kim to buy Sugar Babies, Salt and Vinegar potato chips and Sunkist. 


We'd check out the boys who worked the boat hoist (who were so much older than us, they probably didn't even know we were there) and then cruise back to Paula's house to hang out. 

Instinctively I took a left and rolled to a stop in front of her house.  It's yellow now, and the yard's not as pretty as when her parents took care of it, but there it was.  The garage that used to house her daddy's 1960's something red and white corvette, her bedroom where we'd listen to Prince (Purple Rain) and tease our hair to epic proportions, the kitchen where her older brother would make these oogy ham and mustard wrap thingies, the living room where we'd pile up and watch movies (while I not so secretly lusted over said older brother... minus the ham and mustard wrap.)

And two doors down was Kim's house... her bedroom's the first place I ever heard Run DMC.


And across the street from Kim's is where we used to loiter in the framed up shell of a house being built. Man, if those people don't have some sort of teenage poltergeist living in their walls I'd be surprised.  Some badness went on in that place fo' sho.

Of course now the Plantation has been expanded and there are several streets that weren't there when we were running around on our 10-speeds, but those at its heart definitely bring back memories. ..

There's the house where I used to babysit, there's the house with those stinky ferrets, there's the house where my highschool boyfriend lived (I can't believe I used to sneak out and walk ALL the way over there without a flashlight when I was a teen... what was I thinking?) There's the house where I used to pick up a dude nicknamed Mose Up in the mornings before school... he was so huge, it seemed he filled my whole little Honda.  And there's the house where that boy with the really cool white Thunderbird lived.  Oh, and look there's the big green electrical box that's clearly marked with KEEP OFF spray painted all over it... man we loved sitting on that thing and watching the cars go by.

It was about this time that the seat on my bicycle time machine started telling me that we needed to head back to Dhuland (I've GOT to get a squishier seat... my poor tush) and my legs were ready to come back to 2010 and curl up on the couch with the remote and a bowl of spaghetti, so I finished up my tour and turned her homeward.

It's amazing that a song can bring back so many memories, I mean I could smell the inside of Paula's house, hear her brother playing the drums, practically imagine Paula and Kim flanking me on either side pedaling those streets.

Do I know how blessed I am to live right next door to the home where I grew up? To be a bike ride away from a place that holds so many cool memories? To be able to give Miss Priss the opportunity to do this exact same thing? (Um, let's leave off the sneakin' out part please.)

 Yes... yes I do.

;)

 

Comments

[Sid]

Beautiful writing, girl. Wonderful memories. I almost wrote the last sentence myself - about Miss Priss - altho that would be karma...

[Marilyn C.]

Great Story telling - Yes, you are blessed to be able to live close to where you had such great memories and can share them with your daughter. I totally can related about the song connections too. I now live about 45 min from where I grew up. Sadly though that house is now boarded up and abandoned after we sold it. The neighborhood is overrun with gangs. But my parents managed to raise 4 kids there back in the 60's and 70's ( I was the seventies child) Now all these years later, we all live within 7 miles of each other. That is the best part of it all that we are close together again.

[Patty Spell]

Great story Jamie...

[Michelle]

Wonderful writing and memories! It is a really cool thing to be back where it all started. I am living that same life, sort of, right back in the house where I spent my teenage years. Scary to say but I had not thought about Marissa being the same age next year as I was when we moved here. Kinda odd, yet comfortable at the same time.