I clearly remember seeing the movie trailer for “Grease” and desperately wanted to see it. It looked like such fun: dances in the gym, car races, boys, singing, hanging with friends. Its everything that a 5 year would want to do. I remember being in kindergarten and we would play “race” with the boys. They would run and race against each other and we girls would fight over who got to play the part of Cha Cha DiGregorio and start the race. What a role model for a young girl!!
“Grease” was one of the first movies that I remember seeing on cable - which was brand new then. Bec and I watched “Grease” all the time. We knew all the songs, we could hand jive, we loved that movie!! One year for Christmas, my Aunt Rhonda got me the album and a “Grease” logo cardboard cut out from the theater. I had reached maturity!
Years passed and I didn’t see my friend much. We didn’t reconnect until I was an adult. He looked the same, said the same words but the words didn’t have the same meaning. Things sounded ……different. Like he had a different tone in his voice when he spoke to me. He said things like:
“Well, she got friendly down in the sand!”
“It broke.”
“Yeah, well what are you supposed to do with them for the other for the 23 hours and 45 minutes of the day.”
“Hey! A hickey from Kenickie is like a Hallmark card.”
“Do your parents know that I come into you bedroom every night?”
“What’s your name?” “Marty. Maraschino. You know, like the cherry.”
“Hey, Rizzo’s got a bun in the over!”
Ohh.
MYYYYY.
GAAAAAAAWD.
Well, ok then. Moving on.
So, as I reuniting with my old friend, I was reminded of the “lessons’ that I had learned from my friend and how they made an impression on my life and what I thought high school life was like. This is the honest truth. So, here we go:
1.Summer love is a magical thing. Once you part, you will miss the person desperately. However, it is ok to break out in song at lunch or the football bleachers at school to sing about it.
2.Pink Ladies are fun and they rule the school! But you can’t be too pure to be pink. So, you need to get a cool pink jacket, wear tight skirts, get diamond eyeglasses, pierce your ears and dye your hair pink.
3. Pink Ladies have slumber parties. You are supposed to eat Twinkie’s and drink a dessert wine. You will need to have your ears pierced, learn how to smoke and not be like Sandra Dee before your first slumber party. You don’t want to be sung about and made fun of at the slumber party.
4. Every high school may not be on National Bandstand, but when they have dances, it will involve a big piñata-like person thingy and fancy decorations.
5. You want to be a good dancer, but not the BEST dancer at your school. The best dancers have the worst reputations, so be careful!!
6. If you wear a dress to school be careful!! Guys will look up your dress or worse still, raise your dress and show your underwear to everyone at the big dance.
7. Be careful drinking the punch at the dance, because it will have something weird in it.
8. When you graduate from high school there will be a carnival with rides on the football field.
9. In order to get the guy you love, you have to change. Good girls finish last. So you need to dress “fancy”, tease your hair, smoke cigarettes and wear Dr. Scholl’s high heeled sandals to get your guy in the end. Be prepared for all the guys to look at you and whistle. Then proceed to the “Fun House” and sing with your new boyfriend. It will be electrifying!
10. At the carnival, everyone will get along, start dating again and sing together for one last time. Annuals will also be distributed here. Get into your new boyfriend’s hot car and drive off into the sunset. Happiness will be had by all.
True story, I asked my dad where they had their high school carnival when he graduated. He tried to explain to me that they didn’t have a carnival and I just looked at him like he spoke a foreign language. Which he did. It was called “reality.” Wop-bob-a-lu-bop! A wop-bam-boom!
So this raises the question: what impressions are being made on my niece as she grows up watching “High School Musical” or “Twilight?” If she brings home a pale guy who doesn’t eat and is super hot, I might have to fight her for him. I do after all have my pink jacket and Dr. Scholl’s high heeled sandals. I think I can take her!!
