Friday Night Fun

When I was in my early teens, the thing to do on a Friday night in Connecticut was to go to the Milford rollerskating rink. A group pf my closest friends would plan all week what we would wear, how we would do our hair, and what songs we would request. Our boyfriends would never go with us (for those that had one) because it was our night to be together & have fun. There was Mary, myself, Laureen, Kathy, and sometimes Maria would all take turns getting our mothers to drop us off or pick us up when the night was over. If it was my mom's turn, the four or five of us would cram in to the back of my mom's escort with the seats folded down and off we would go! All of us giggling and comparing lip gloss or eyeliners. Remember this was the early 80's, so colored eyeshadow (depending on the color of your outfit) & black or electric blue eyeliner was all the rage. I swear you could look like a ragged out drag queen & be in style then! Narrow cut tapered leg jeans with a pair of slouch socks that matched the color of your shirt & a big belt completed your outfit. And don't forget the hair! OMG, my folks should have bought stock in AquaNet because from 13-18, I used that stuff like it was the best creation of super styling glop known to mankind! But that's a story best left for another day. I loved going rollersating every Friday night. The best were the All-Night Skates when you were there from 8pm till 7am but man were you tired! LOL! There were lockers where you could store your purse & sneakers for the evening so you wouldn't lose them or get them stolen & as a group we'd all share one locker & it only cost a quarter at the time to rent one. We all had our own sets of skates because to rent them was LAME-O! We'd get out on the floor in a group giggling & checking out the fellow skaters to see who was cute. Maria would always fall, Mary & I were pretty good (well, what can I say for 3 years of ice skating lessons when I was little?), Laureen was afraid of getting hurt & Kathy, well she was up for whatever Mary & I were into at the time. You had fun on those Friday nights as a young teen going to the skating rink. There was the loud music of the most current hits & love songs, the snacks & sodas, the lights, & the laughter. I met my friend Adam there. He was so good at skating! Whenever they had couples skate he would take turns taking either Mary or myself or even Laureeen out on the floor to skate. Laureen had the biggest crush on him!For my whole eigth grade year, nearly every Friday was spent at that rink, it was so much fun. When I moved to Florida, there was a rink not to far from my house but it wasn't the same for me down here. A lot of the kids went, but after going one time, I never went again. It just wasn't the same. I guess coming from up north, intellectually I was seeminingly "older" then my age group here in Florida at the time. I hung with a crown older then I was, which was funny because while my Connecticut friends were in 9th grade in the high school, I was in 9th grade at a Jr. High here for half the day & half the day in the high school. Most of my friends were 2-3 years oldre then me here & none of them wanted to go to the rollerskating rink, so those days passed into nostalgia quite quickly. My northern friends said that halfway into their school years, it too changed for them & they no longer went to the rink up there. Times change I guess. I was in my 20's & took my young cousins to the local rink for their bday party one time. I put on a pair of rented rollerskates (how lame is that? LOL) and got out there with them & they were so amazed that their aunt was so cool! While out on the floor the dj was playing an 80's (Billy Squire's In The Dark) tune that brought me back nearly 12 years at the time to when it was Mary & I and Adam was skating backwards talking to us. Come the end of that afternoon party I was so tired even in my 20's!When did I grow up? Where did my youth go & my energy for the all night skates?