Community Chat

[jeanlake]

1960s & 70s music was fabulous and turbulent evening news was viewed in silence. Neighborhood was full of  WW2 Vet families. Families seldom moved so I grew up with great neighborhood buddies. I was athletic and fit and musical. Interests were balanced. A tomboy who liked to wear makeup and fingernail polish. Most moms didn't work, but mine did. She was valedictorian of her class and had a well-paying career. Parents told me when I was 12 that I was going to college. I listened and believed them so I did. Mom died of cancer when she was 38. Dad struggled with PTSD but after her death; alcoholism. Those were the bad parts. But there were good things, too. Today I feel like a phoenix who rose out of the ashes.   

[bootsanne]

@SeaMaiden It sounds like you did not have a very happy teen-age life.  I can't even fathom not having my mother when I was young.  I can remember 60 years ago my dad asking me if they were to divorce who I would go with and I didn't hesitate to say my mother.  My father was an immigrant who never spoke the English language very well and growing up at a time when everyone around me was the exact opposite of him, I am ashamed to say I was embarassed by him.  He worked very hard, gave the 7 of us the best he could, died very young, but I still would have had an entirely different life if my mother had died rather than him when I was 16.  You had  horrible struggles like a lot of us, but we made it through the best we could.  We did survive.

[ScarletDove]

Graduated from HS 1960, Montgomery Cty, MD and my teen years were not worth remembering.... Fortunate to have a very stable family life and a mom and dad who loved each other and who were married 70 years.

[Chicagosuburbangirl]

All girls Catholic high school.

Graduated in the mid 80's.

The neighborhood, not mine but close, was extremely wealthy. My family was not.

I loved the beautiful school and homes around it.  I felt so very lucky to be getting a great  education and ro walk to school in such a lovely area.

At some point I considered a religious life and then found boys.  Nothing serious happened.

I had to work after school and on Saturdays, so no extra curricular activities, but I was fine with that.

I truly did not see a drug presence, although of course it must have been around.

I didn't drink until I was 21.

Truly an innocent in those years.

[drizzellla]

I grew up in Philadelphia. My class in high school had 16 kids. We went to school together and spent our weekends together too. There were only 3 girls in my class. One girl was having an affair with the English teacher. So many times it was just me going out with 5 or more guys.

My Mom would have a fit. She didn't think it looked right. One girl and a bunch of guys. But I enjoyed my high school days. Once in awhile the guys would "score"  some beer. But I did not care for beer. It wasn't until college that drugs became available.

My Mom was a stay at  home Mom. It is funny she went to college to become a teacher and only worked one year. My Dad was the teacher in the family. He would stay up all hours helping us with our school projects or math homework. Or spend his weekend driving all over the area to attend our different activities.

I wish I had told them how much I appreciated how much they did for me while they were still alive.

[jannabelle1]

My parents moved from a small town to a large city when I was in 9th grade, so it started out somewhat difficult making all new friends and adjusting to city life. But - by the time I was in the 10th grade (1963/64) I loved my new life.

Made a lot of friends and had fun in high school (class of 700+); had a good friend with a brand new poppy-red Mustang convertible that she frequently got to drive; rode around the downtown loop on Saturday night (like all kids did); enjoyed the Beatles and Beach Boys; Friday football and dance afterward in the gym; JFK assassination and terrible sadness; drugs were non-existent in my group; part-time jobs to buy clothes; one telephone in our house and one TV; loved my high school/teen years and friends and family....so many good memories! 

[Snowpuppy]

What?  Nobody discovered drive-in movie theatres ? 😚

[joannecha]

Small town girl from west Michigan. Graduated high school in 1969 as valedictorian. Nerd group of friends, band and choir throughout high school. Friday night sock hops, but mostly our group did the decorating and girls danced with girls until about 9th grade. Football or bb games on Friday night, one girlfriend would have the group over for pizza after (we would take turns). No drugs in H.S., but drinking and a couple of pregnancies in that time. I remember my senior year was the first time a pregnant girl stayed in school and graduated. I went to both my junior and senior prom, but didn’t date much. Very naive when I went off to college ( small college in Michigan—CMU). I spent college studying and working and didn’t really have much time for socializing. Wish I had been more social back then. Didn’t really come into my own until I graduated college and got a job teaching, my own apartment, and moved across the state (didn’t know a soul in that town). My parents worked very hard to help with college. They paid 100% for my freshman year of college and from then on, I worked to help pay expenses. I wish that I had thanked them more often for all that they did for me.

[bells4me]

Awesome.  I grew up 2 miles from Disneyland and not far from the beach.  I spent most Saturday nights dancing at the Space Stage at Dland.  Hitchiked to the beach or walk to the plaza to hang out.  We lived just outside the bus boundry so I walked to and from junior high & high school.  I spent most weekends riding horses & skateboard. 

[RedTop]

My teen years were happy and carefree.   Jobs on the farm kept us busy until after my paternal grandparents died; then we stayed busy with our home chores during the summer and fall.   

I was a good student, loved school, and excelled at whatever I took an interest in.   My maternal grandparents started experiencing health problems while I was in high school, and were in and out of the hospital often.   They often asked me to stay with them; days, weeks, even a month at a time.   I caught my same bus there, and would cook, clean, do laundry, etc., after school.   They felt safer with me in the house, and I learned a lot about aging issues from an early age.   

I always wanted my family to be proud be of me.   I always knew who I was and what I wanted in life; no struggles with teen issues like so many of my friends.  The majority of my family smoked and drank, and did lots of things I knew I’d never do.   I had many friends; all good girls like me, except for one, and after one visit to her house, our friendship was limited to contact at school.