a sophisticated childhood never happened to me.
my sister and i, half-naked, dirty and satisfied, wove our way through the bushes near my childhood home with gleeful abandon. together, we rode our choppers up and down the hills and canoed with the older boys amongst the wetland reeds. we climbed trees and my smaller stature never meant i didn't keep up.
we lifted, held and rescued any and every wild creature we found smashed on the tarmac or dunes.
this is who we were.
as i look out at the world now, there are many things i wonder about. who would i have been without these experiences? i now know, i'd never have exchanged them for anything. something beautiful happens when you grow up with mud between your toes and grass stains on your knees.
we're still this way, my sister and I. we're still a little wild, a little unsteady in the world sometimes, yet still deeply connected to it. we're still looking for lost things. we're still looking up at the sun.
but back to remembering. the spring my sister turned thirteen was balmy, heady and all about THIS…and a little bit of Sandy and Danny has lived on in all my love affairs. i think i'm still a little bit in love with John Travolta.
{in case you're not aware: Sandy (the good girl) has now transformed herself into a femme fatale. Danny (formerly one of the cool gang) has gone preppy. This in an effort to impress each other. One wonders why…since they already had} But this you see is why life is so special.
Enjoy, this slice of the greased lightning generation! Or if not, think back to when you were young and fresh-faced, with all your dreams intact. How many have you made come true?
Hearts and Kisses
Michelle
gawrsh. i just realised my mother owned shoes and pants just like those olivia is wearing in the second clip. wow. i’m old.:faint:
my mom was too old to own the cool cloths that Olivia wore. Gees you were lucky.
My childhood looks similar in many ways. The keywords: mud, grass, trees, bike, animals…I’ve always been an animal lover, I was some kind of mini Steve Irwin. :)But kids can be cruel without knowing, I wanted to see, to touch, to feel them all. I wanted to understand better those wonderful creatures. Keeping fishes in a recipient until they turn belly up for some strange reason…. Touching the baby birds while the parents were attacking me.A also remember so well making a collection of wasp / bee darts! At about 8 years old, showing a glass pot with 50-60 darts gave me the respect of all my friends.
Something we have talked few months ago about :up: I stll remeber what you have said about chocolate and how it tasted better then 😀
Hey CapeGirlI’m part of the Grease generation! At least I think so :)We lived opposite a kopje in a small mining town in Botswana, and we used to watch movies on those 8mm projectors. I think we watched Grease at this open air movie house – like a drive-in but you left your car in a parking lot and sat in this arena. It was a pretty cool time to be growing up.:heart:JCL.
Had a rotten childhood wich means it has been going forward and upward ever since :lol::up:
LC>> your mom had you when she was older? i’ve reached the age i think where i feel we should wear what we’re happy in. am i one step away from beige? 😆 interestingly my underwear is getting skimpier. ;)martin>> steve irwin eh? what a loss that is to the world. a great family. although he does bugger a bit much with those animals sometimes..all for a good cause though. i’m almost afraid to ask what wasp/bee darts are!? good for you for loving the planet.darko itDID taste better! cheese too 😀 but there is hope….eggs, i think, taste better now… :DJCL> you sure are. ah yes the Drive-IN. my word, we loved it muchly in my family. i can well remember being at the Seabreeze drive-in and swinging on a little swingset set behind the screen, i can almost feel the breeze 😀 8mm was all the rage,wasn’t it? imagine. we didn’t have personal film devices back then!? so strange to think of. i had no idea you were from Botswana originally.nopanic>> every story has a flipside of course. and mine does too. we should have coffee sometime.
what wonderful memories! :up: i had a pretty good childhood and also there was ups and downs. great post.
Spot on. Coffee is a legal drug for me :coffee:
Hi Cape Girl….sounds like a really cool childhood that you and your sister enjoyed!! 🙂 I am glad I found your blog here, its really interesting and full of fun.I also have an opera blog (I think ) from a while ago…have to try and find out if it still exists.For the meantime my blogger.com blog will have to suffice. Hope you have a glorious day over there in Cape-Ville …and keep on blogging about such cool stuff 🙂 Jesse The Cat !
By the way, my opera blog is located at http://my.opera.com/Jessethecat/blog/
Hi Michelle,My childhood was me playing in the streets of Brooklyn with my friends, and playing with my cousins when we visited their parents. What a great movie Grease is 😀
Hi CapeGirlI have lived in quite a few places – Cape Town being the longest (nine years). I loved growing up in Botswana – the town was so small you could literally know everyone. However, the thought of such “intimacy” is quite scary for me now :lol:love,JCL.
my parents were in their 30’s or so when they had my brother and myself. Not sure the exact age since at my age I cant remember my own birthday let alone theirs. Beige, interesting color. I think that means you are getting very very old. Although the with comment on skimpier undies I doubt you are old at heart. Maybe one day you will equal my age. :devil:
isabel> thanks for popping in to visit. yes life is not simple, or good all the time, and if it were we’d probably not appreciate the simple and good.nopanic> where shall we meet?jessiekitty> it was nice to have somebody to share it with :)marcus> you grew up in Brooklyn? always seems such a fascinating culture there…it sure was a most excellent movie. electrifying even :devil:JCL> i thought you were here a time or two 🙂 what is your favorite place in Cape Town?LC> i think that’s a good age to start a family in some ways, but not all. i think 20 odd women have more energy for one thing! I am not old, I am ancient, come closer and my cane and I will show you! :devil:
You will swing your cane but how bad can it hurt my chair?
I was born and raised in Brooklyn 🙂 You’ve had quite a wonderful childhood and bet where you live is a pretty place Michelle 🙂 You’re right about the Grease movie too 😆
LC is it a high chair? 😆 just pulling your…SOCKS!Marcus Cape Town is a stunningly beautiful city but SA has it’s contrasts too, of course. it’s a very strange trip from the airport -i’m pretty sure most are saying :”this doesn’t look like the brochure, what?” or “hey man we’ve been totally ripped off!” since the drive passes the myriad “squatter camps” which are really large established shanty towns. all part of the local color here.
Wheel chair baby, I know dont get too turned on by the sexy spinners I have on my wheely chair.
That is quite a contrast; I love to travel and hope to make it to South Africa one day. 🙂
yes it’s like that all over here, the very rich minority and poorer communities intertwined. i think we’re generally a friendly city though-so you would be most welcome. 🙂
I’d love to visit South Africa 🙂