What's Up?!

I love how music can transport you to another time and place. On the way to work this morning, I was scanning the radio stations at a stop light and I landed on a song that I haven't heard in the longest time. I was immediately transported to the shores of Lake Champlain, in Lake Ticonderoga, NY, where I had decided to spend thanksgiving with some friends during my senior year of high school. How appropriate as tomorrow is Thanksgiving, 12 years later.

Anyway, my BFF Melissa's grandmother had a house on the lake, and we were going to spend a few days "roughing it" in a camper on the property. It was cold and drafty, but we had a space heater, electric and lots of sleeping bags to keep us warm at night. Now, it sounds so silly, but we thought we were the coolest getting to sleep out their in our own "place". We even had a name for it, but I can't remember.

Ahh.... We were rebels that weekend, drinking peach schnapps, smoking cloves and a joint Mel had scored from her brother, and going into town each day to meet boys. We felt like we were on top of the world and it was perfect for the time in our lives. We'd blast that song when we borrowed her grandmothers car, or in the tape deck of our boom box in our temporary domicile. And of course we'd sing and scream that song at the top of our lungs, along with some music by Uncle Bonsai & Voilent Femmes. I know. Cool right?

And no, we didn't just party. We helped her Grandmother make Thanksgiving dinner for us and her boyfriend, Mel and I were studying for our French Regents practice exam, and we also had to help her grandmother paint a few rooms in her house. Cheap labor I know, but it was so worth it for the experience we had that weekend. And, she even let us pick out the paint so that was fun.

So yeah, sitting at a stop light this morning it all came back. The noises, the smells, the rusty camper and the faces that I'm no longer in contact with. It was humbling to see how far I've come in 12 years, and what I thought was a good time. After all of those memories pasted through my thoughts, I cranked the volume and, yes, I screamed at the top of my lungs, "What's Going On."