Summer '02 "Count 'Em Jimmy"
As far as Summers go, as far as sheer amounts of nostalgia and energy go, the Summer of 2002 was the pinnacle of not just myself but my friends lives. It was the summer before senior year, going into what would be a fairly memorable year in itself, for yours truly. Months prior to that summer my mother had told us about the whole Cancer bomb and I'll spare all of that funness for another time. The summer before senior year for most kids is formidable, so many relationships were built from years of comradery, secrets kept, teen angst melting away month by month to that point. A point in time where literally everything is looking up, no one has crept into crippling debt, failed relationships, dead-end jobs, doctor prescribed happiness, and offspring of our own. The summer was filled with dreams and aspirations, maybe subconsciously we grew together so close knowing that in a year all of that would change, as everyone heads off into their own personal path. The power of foreshadowing in our lives is something we don't reflect on enough.
That summer for me I spent more time away from my own house to maintain a level of sanity, not quite running away from reality but as a means to escape, but that whole situation wouldn't be all that unique. Every teenage at that age was trying to escape something, it's part of growing up. To say one event is greater than another would do us all a disservice. My escape from a sick mom stacks up with everyone's own personal/family growing pains. Many of us had absentee parents, divorced and divided family, financial struggles that were never talked out loud. All these events in each of own lives, whatever the cause, was like pressure on coal, increasing minute by minute evolving into something greater. Memories. Memories of where friends become a family of sorts. Bonds beyond blood. Forged out of stolen time. Much like a movie with interconnecting stories, our own relationships were being weaved in and out of one another.
I can think back to that time and as much as the memories may have faded or the details have worn, the feeling of those bonds haven't wavered. For me it was running around with my best friends, playing volleyball at random places at random times. It was walking in a friends house knowing the door would never be locked and having a place to be. It was hookah nights talking about the philosophy of life. It was rapping DMX way too violently. It was starting my car with a flathead. It was sno cones and future plans. Awkward moments with girls. It was a friend and myself squeezing into a window breaking into a friends house wanting to throw a killer party, but ended up playing risk and listening to AHA "take on me". It was getting held accountable for that moment and then fed dinner by the mom who probably knew what was really going on. It was having a friend call in sick to my job pretending to be my dad. It was crying in a friends lap when everything I had run away from finally caught up to me. It was DCI bands and trips around the state. But most of all it was "Count 'em Jimmy"
A moment in time I can't remember a single detail about other than one quote, it was a moment filled with what felt like a 100 people at a house doing nothing but just being there with each other. A true moment punctuated with a feeling of belonging that doesn't require contextual evidence to exist. It happened at a friends house with what was probably a very fed up mother (the same mother whose house we had broken into) needing a break from a group of friends whose whole summer had circled each other. That perpetual interweaving blanket of time had reach the point where the threads would start heading in its own directions. That moment was the culmination of friendships come and gone but never relented. It's a quote that makes no sense yet so abstract it always stuck in my head, likely the theme to the summer for most of us. That middle ground of being teenagers in trouble but always having positive intent.
I set upon to really write about that moment as a story weaving narratives of everyone, but much like how life really is, the specifics of the moment has no bearing on what really happened. What really happened is a bunch of teens at that point we're all best friends and now circling our mid thirties. The recount of one moment doesn't matter as much as the sum parts of the whole. Now older, age withering away details, forged from years of sleep, drinks, and other important memories, many of us have grown apart, some of us are still friends but more important than any of that was how the relationships impacted us as people and I believe the majority of us having that time together has created some of the most powerful, emotionally adjusted adults that I know. If "Jimmy" could count us now I think he'd be impressed and proud.
Anyway as a way to reflect and capture that summer and the times it surrounded feel free to leave a comment of something that impacted you. Be it about me or someone else, adventures, random memories whatever, or don't because I'll never know, and I totally understand sometimes it's just easier to let the barking dog sleep so I wont hold any grudges.
That summer for me I spent more time away from my own house to maintain a level of sanity, not quite running away from reality but as a means to escape, but that whole situation wouldn't be all that unique. Every teenage at that age was trying to escape something, it's part of growing up. To say one event is greater than another would do us all a disservice. My escape from a sick mom stacks up with everyone's own personal/family growing pains. Many of us had absentee parents, divorced and divided family, financial struggles that were never talked out loud. All these events in each of own lives, whatever the cause, was like pressure on coal, increasing minute by minute evolving into something greater. Memories. Memories of where friends become a family of sorts. Bonds beyond blood. Forged out of stolen time. Much like a movie with interconnecting stories, our own relationships were being weaved in and out of one another.
I can think back to that time and as much as the memories may have faded or the details have worn, the feeling of those bonds haven't wavered. For me it was running around with my best friends, playing volleyball at random places at random times. It was walking in a friends house knowing the door would never be locked and having a place to be. It was hookah nights talking about the philosophy of life. It was rapping DMX way too violently. It was starting my car with a flathead. It was sno cones and future plans. Awkward moments with girls. It was a friend and myself squeezing into a window breaking into a friends house wanting to throw a killer party, but ended up playing risk and listening to AHA "take on me". It was getting held accountable for that moment and then fed dinner by the mom who probably knew what was really going on. It was having a friend call in sick to my job pretending to be my dad. It was crying in a friends lap when everything I had run away from finally caught up to me. It was DCI bands and trips around the state. But most of all it was "Count 'em Jimmy"
A moment in time I can't remember a single detail about other than one quote, it was a moment filled with what felt like a 100 people at a house doing nothing but just being there with each other. A true moment punctuated with a feeling of belonging that doesn't require contextual evidence to exist. It happened at a friends house with what was probably a very fed up mother (the same mother whose house we had broken into) needing a break from a group of friends whose whole summer had circled each other. That perpetual interweaving blanket of time had reach the point where the threads would start heading in its own directions. That moment was the culmination of friendships come and gone but never relented. It's a quote that makes no sense yet so abstract it always stuck in my head, likely the theme to the summer for most of us. That middle ground of being teenagers in trouble but always having positive intent.
I set upon to really write about that moment as a story weaving narratives of everyone, but much like how life really is, the specifics of the moment has no bearing on what really happened. What really happened is a bunch of teens at that point we're all best friends and now circling our mid thirties. The recount of one moment doesn't matter as much as the sum parts of the whole. Now older, age withering away details, forged from years of sleep, drinks, and other important memories, many of us have grown apart, some of us are still friends but more important than any of that was how the relationships impacted us as people and I believe the majority of us having that time together has created some of the most powerful, emotionally adjusted adults that I know. If "Jimmy" could count us now I think he'd be impressed and proud.
Anyway as a way to reflect and capture that summer and the times it surrounded feel free to leave a comment of something that impacted you. Be it about me or someone else, adventures, random memories whatever, or don't because I'll never know, and I totally understand sometimes it's just easier to let the barking dog sleep so I wont hold any grudges.
I remember the first time I read passages of work from someone I truly believed in, and recognized their passion for writing. I remembered pouring over pages and pages on a screen, and trying not to edit them too much, to remove any of their character. Believing in you and your talent hasn't let me down yet, because every time I read your writing, it leaves me in my feels. A Waking Life, indeed.
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