What's Your First Unforgettable Year?
Tomorrow, I host my AAUW Talking on Paper writing group. This is what I wrote to share. I guess it's Memory Monday today.
It turns out that 1978 was the year I remember being one of those years, a year marked with milestones which I will never forget. I have a handful of those kind of years. But the first, thus most important, was certainly 1978. A conversation with my son about my first car is what started me traveling down Memory Lane.
My younger son is really into cars and when I shared with him what my first car was, he said, disappointedly, that I never should have sold it. That was 43 years ago and there have been a few cars since then but no one forgets their first car, much like their first love.
Speaking with him about my old car had me searching for a photo of it. With that discovery, many memories of that time in my life were evoked.
I was actually the third owner of the chocolate brown Honda Civic CVCC. My parents bought it new in 1974, and my brother owned it for a year before I "got it". In 1978, I scored my driver's license and my very own wheels.
When I say, "Got it", it was not a gift. I actually purchased my car for $2,500. Adjusted for inflation, $2,500 in 1978 is equal to $10,486 in 2021. I saved every penny that was gifted to me and every $1.25 per hour earned babysitting. I didn't do much but babysit in my early teen years, and in our little community I was in high demand. It is that year, 1978, that I remember, for the first time, being really proud of myself. That purchase epitomized delayed gratification, determination, and sacrifice. It gave me a freedom I had only dreamt about.
In the Summer of 1978, my brother, his girlfriend at the time, and I decided it would be fun to transfer high schools. Changing campuses allowed us to break from the kids we'd gone to school with for years, and allowed us to create who we were to become. Little did I know, that change would be the most monumental for me. Two days before my first day at the new school, I was given the news that I no longer needed to wear my scoliosis brace 24/7, after two grueling, and at times, cruel years. Part of the reason I was free to babysit so often was because my brace was a fabulous detractor from dating- a modern day chastity belt, so to speak.
On my first day as the new me, I met a boy who would soon become my first love. So many firsts happened that year: first 'real' job, first (of dozens) time watching Grease at the movie theater, first date, first prom, first hickey (How many remember what year they had some boy leave a lasting mark, prominently on their neck?). Oh so many unforgettable firsts!
As I write this, I think how odd and amazing that one question, so simple as "What was your first car?", can not only release long ago memories but can group all those memories into one year. For me, 1978 was a year that helped define me. It steered me down the road that would become my life. And it was my little chocolate brown Honda that helped to transport me there.
0 comments:
Post a Comment