I have been doing a quick trip down memory lane on a friend's post and thought I'd share the story here as well. Because it's got me thinking about how much of our lives we just forget. I mean, it has to be that way, we experience so many things and remembering them all, all of the time would take a lot. But it's funny how things just fade away until something triggers you to remember them. Then they flood back and suddenly you are 16 again...
My friend posted about watching Red Dawn and how it just didn't hold up. How watching it as an adult it was clearly just a propaganda film. Now I didn't see it when it came out. It wasn't anything I was interested in at the time so I didn't have anything to add to the conversation about the movie exactly, but it did bring up a memory that I hadn't thought about in years.
My friends Cinnamon, Ralph and I were at Coronado Mall one Saturday hanging out, shopping, going to the arcade, doing whatever it was that we did at the mall so very often in the 80s. Hard to imagine now, but we all really did just go to the mall to hang out. So we were leaving the arcade on the lower level heading up the escalators and there was a group of boys coming down the other side. One of them was really cute. He and I made eye contact and held it until we hit the midpoint and then both spun to watch each other the rest of the way up for me and down for him. Smiles the whole way. Waved as we reached the end and walked on with our friends.
At the top of the escalator as we started to go our own way Cinnamon (have to imagine it was accompanied by a smack in the arm) let me know who that boy I was just flirting with was, C. Thomas Howell. You know, PONYBOY. Oh...yeah, that's why he looked so familiar. She was like, Ponyboy thought you were hot! We laughed, made jokes and headed on our way with a cute story to share later.
That night we all went dancing at The Safari, the under 21 dance club. Again, something that people today would be like what? But it was huge. Just going out dancing was a thing we did. Under 21 dance clubs were great. It made our parents feel a little better about us going clubbing. At least I imagine it must have though to be really honest we all had such little supervision that who knows what they actually thought.
So we end up at The Safari and...he and his friends were there. Boom! Eye contact, smile, head nod toward the dance floor translation in 80s speak to "May I have this dance?" He introduced himself as Tommy and said he was in town visiting friends. We talked a little while we danced, but mostly just danced and rated the songs. It was a very promising start to...nothing. A crowd started to gather as people figured out who he was and they had to leave. I want to say that the club asked him to or told him he should because they just didn't have security to handle the crowd that was starting to gather. I can remember it getting close on the floor right before he left, not like woo woo close, but close like people trying to crowd in to get near him and to push me out of the way.
I cannot even imagine what it is like for celebrities now. This was before we were all online, before cell phones, before anyone but doctors or drug dealers even carried beepers. And still the word was getting out that he was there. It would have been a mad rush now if a teen star was hanging out in a local dance club. But the 80s were easier.
Not completely easy because he still got whisked out of there by his friends.
Cinnamon and Ralph were like, DUDE! and I was like, Yeah, I'm pissed. We were having fun. But their Dude was more that he was there dancing with me at all. I was just bummed because he seemed like a good guy, he was fun, and did I mention he was really cute?
I'm sure he still thinks about that really cute girl he danced with in Albuquerque that one time. Or like me he had totally forgotten about it and unlike me will never remember. But it was a sweet memory to come back up.
My friend Michelle remembered the name of the club, which I had forgotten the original name, and mentioned it was where she had her first date. Which then brought up another memory for me.
The Safari was where Brent and I got together as an official couple. We had gone out a couple of times the end of October (would have been after C Thomas Howell and I danced, just think, if he had stayed longer I might have been too busy dating a celebrity to date my husband! Ha!) but that was it. By Thanksgiving I realized I wanted to date him again and pursued him until he caught me. That weekend at the club he did. By Monday morning at school we were officially a thing and that was that.
I can also remember taking Rhiannon out dancing when she was visiting her grandparents and needed a break from her family. Her uncle was one of the main missionaries for our church, her grandparents were one of the founders of our church. Our families went back to the 60s tied together. She and I weren't exactly as pious as the rest. But she got a pass to go out with me because her grandparents didn't realize it. We had a great time. It was the holiday season 83 to 84 and there was a world premier video from Van Halen we had to be home to watch before leaving for the club. Yes, that was a thing we did too. Watch World Premier Videos like it deserved all caps like that. She was just so excited to find another Van Halen fan, and then we were both so confused by the level of keyboards in the song. Okay... We could agree that David Lee Roth looked fine, it was kind of fun, but it was not at all what we were expecting. But on to the club for the night!
Another night there I can remember dancing with Chad to 1999 and making plans for how our New Year's Eve was going to go when it actually was 1999 to 2000. We would be in our early 30s and would throw a massive party. He was going to live someplace close to Brent and me or would fly in for the party because we would for sure be celebrating such a massive thing together. When 12/31/99 rolled around and I was laying in bed with Katie and Brent watching Dick Clark's Rockin New Year's Eve deciding if I would wake them up when it became midnight in our time zone I thought of that and smiled. Massive party indeed. We had watching it turn to 2000 all over the world from our house. Waiting to see if the Y2K virus was going to cause any issues at all. No dancing. No big party. Just the three of us snugged up together. It was perfect.
A lot happened on those nights dancing at The Safari/The Big Apple. Plans were made. Friendships started and ended. Just a lot of fun was had. The story of the night Brent and I got together isn't a smooth love story, it's one that could have all been derailed by a misunderstanding like you see in romance novels...but it didn't. It all worked out the way it was supposed to. Good memories all the way around, when you remember them that is!
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