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The photo above was taken at Hidden lake. A small deep sapphire blue lake hidden (hence the name) from public view but surprisingly close to town. I'm sure all of our parent knew where it was but at the time we felt a cocky confidence that we were hidden from any and all figures of authority and that made it one of the favorite spots to hang out.
The lake was surrounded by rock walls in various stages of collapse. This gave the lake the appearance of a water filled sink hole - heck maybe that's what it really was, I don't know. All I do know is that this lake gave me the creeps and I seldom got in the water. But that didn't stop me from spending a good deal of my time out there.
The summer this photo was taken was the summer of 1973, the perfect summer, the one in which I felt the happiest as well as the saddest. The summer I thought I was grown and still as lost as a child. The summer I knew I would always be okay...no matter what...the summer I began to get to know myself.
I had just turned 16 years old and had just gotten my driver's license. My dad had bought my mother a car at an auto auction and she hated it so they gave it to me to drive. A 1971 Mustang Mach One...poor me.....yeah right!
My two best friends in the world (the world as I knew it ) were Marilyn and Dee Dee. We spent almost every minute of that summer together and we used that car like a magic carpet to transport ourselves daily to magical places and events. It was pretty simple actually. The three of us were either at Hidden Lake or Park Lake or The Ranch or just in that car cruising and listening to the radio and laughing...always laughing.
As I mentioned before, I had fallen in love with my first real boyfriend the previous winter. This is back in the day when we all spouted "Free Love" but still kept it secret from our parents. Back when I was defiant but still a coward. Back when I assumed control of my body and my reproductive capabilities but still secretly harboured the contradictory notion that if I eventually married my love it wouldn't matter that we had "done it". Back when I was....sixteen....
Then summer came and with it came changes and challenges. My guy went into the service. Boot camp was only two months long but it was the two months of summer. It might as well have been two million months. I'm not going to pretend that I was mature beyond my years. I'm not going to pretend that I above reproach when it came to my commitment to my solider. But I will tell you this. I tried, I really tried.
I lay in my bed and cried each night. I played record albums over and over and fantasied about the time I spent with him and the times to come. I wrote perfume scented letters each day and rushed each morning to the post office to retrieve the mail before my parents picked it up. Sorting through it feverishly for signs of that envelope with the blue and red striping. I read and reread each letter a million times.
But I was sixteen....
I'd like to say that I had the discipline to wait for my soldier. I'd like to say that my endurance and faithfulness is legendary but I'd be lying.
It didn't take long before I realized that one of my best friends had a husband and one had a lover and when we all got together....I had no one. It was okay for a while but soon the loneliness I experienced within my own home, the same loneliness that drove me out into the streets, was now joined by its identical twin. The two of them together were too much for me ...I was only sixteen.....
And then one day, one day that was a regular as every day before it, Marilyn, Dee Dee and I drove out to Hidden Lake.....I was still sixteen but this day, I was one day older.....and he was there.
The lake was surrounded by rock walls in various stages of collapse. This gave the lake the appearance of a water filled sink hole - heck maybe that's what it really was, I don't know. All I do know is that this lake gave me the creeps and I seldom got in the water. But that didn't stop me from spending a good deal of my time out there.
The summer this photo was taken was the summer of 1973, the perfect summer, the one in which I felt the happiest as well as the saddest. The summer I thought I was grown and still as lost as a child. The summer I knew I would always be okay...no matter what...the summer I began to get to know myself.
I had just turned 16 years old and had just gotten my driver's license. My dad had bought my mother a car at an auto auction and she hated it so they gave it to me to drive. A 1971 Mustang Mach One...poor me.....yeah right!
My two best friends in the world (the world as I knew it ) were Marilyn and Dee Dee. We spent almost every minute of that summer together and we used that car like a magic carpet to transport ourselves daily to magical places and events. It was pretty simple actually. The three of us were either at Hidden Lake or Park Lake or The Ranch or just in that car cruising and listening to the radio and laughing...always laughing.
As I mentioned before, I had fallen in love with my first real boyfriend the previous winter. This is back in the day when we all spouted "Free Love" but still kept it secret from our parents. Back when I was defiant but still a coward. Back when I assumed control of my body and my reproductive capabilities but still secretly harboured the contradictory notion that if I eventually married my love it wouldn't matter that we had "done it". Back when I was....sixteen....
Then summer came and with it came changes and challenges. My guy went into the service. Boot camp was only two months long but it was the two months of summer. It might as well have been two million months. I'm not going to pretend that I was mature beyond my years. I'm not going to pretend that I above reproach when it came to my commitment to my solider. But I will tell you this. I tried, I really tried.
I lay in my bed and cried each night. I played record albums over and over and fantasied about the time I spent with him and the times to come. I wrote perfume scented letters each day and rushed each morning to the post office to retrieve the mail before my parents picked it up. Sorting through it feverishly for signs of that envelope with the blue and red striping. I read and reread each letter a million times.
But I was sixteen....
I'd like to say that I had the discipline to wait for my soldier. I'd like to say that my endurance and faithfulness is legendary but I'd be lying.
It didn't take long before I realized that one of my best friends had a husband and one had a lover and when we all got together....I had no one. It was okay for a while but soon the loneliness I experienced within my own home, the same loneliness that drove me out into the streets, was now joined by its identical twin. The two of them together were too much for me ...I was only sixteen.....
And then one day, one day that was a regular as every day before it, Marilyn, Dee Dee and I drove out to Hidden Lake.....I was still sixteen but this day, I was one day older.....and he was there.
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