Hot child in the city......

At eighteen, I needed to "find myself", and leaving my family home in Ossineke, moved to the big city of Alpena. Two of my girlfriends and I rented an apartment together and what I was sure was to be a very Mary Tyler Moore life ensued. The apartment was in a converted, large, old home in Alpena. There were 5 apartments plus a studio in the place. The studio apartment served as a love nest for a local business man and we loved watching him and his mistress going to fit in a quickie on lunch hour! You might want to adjust that beehive lady, and tuck that shirt in there, mister, we'd giggle upon their exit. Anyhoo, there were approximately 24 people living in the remaining 5 apartments in-- various configurations. The place was a real living organism constantly changing and growing. People coming and going and staying all the time. Sorta like a hippie commune with all of us sometimes eating, sleeping, using each others clothes, bathrooms, cars, etc. Early on we all made a pact that none of us would sleep with each other so as to not ruin the perfect synchronicity we had achieved. My parents were less than thrilled by this little "camelot". One time when I was suffering with the flu, my Dad stopped in to check on me. After finding some pot that I did not have time to stash, (it truly WAS someone else's!) He witnessed the dude from downstairs come out from my shower, dripping wet and wrapped only in a towel announcing that I was low on shampoo. Oh, and "Hi, Dad." See, his apartment had only a bathtub and ours had only a shower, so we swapped alot. Works for me. The same guy also always had diet Pepsi and aspirin on hand for our hangovers, as well as quarters for the laundry mat. Another guy (did I mention that we were the only chickies there?) usually hosted a big Sunday dinner that we could all attend. It was sometimes the only real meal we ate all week--except for my date at Big Boy with my Dad whenever I could con him. All three of us had jobs, but with car payments, insurance, lip gloss, ciggies, etc. there was barely enough money left over for rent--much less food. One friend's Mom worked somewhere that she could give us cases of cranberry juice. This was mixed with cheap vodka that served as our drink of choice and also very conveniently kept us from bladder infections. Double duty! Ingenious AND efficient, we were! The fact that our pad had only ONE large bedroom made sharing sleeping arrangement sometimes rather dicey. Thus sharing with some of the others was sometimes a necessity. Nobody seemed to mind me crashing on their couch or wherever, with my blankee and Barry White (ever faithful teddy bear) in tow. I could usually score something to eat or a cocktail--plus cable! Bonus!! It was sometimes interesting to see what was in MY kitchen tryin' to scrounge up (good luck, guy) breakfast the next day. So, after a period of this craziness, one friend announced that she was moving away with her family and was leaving us in the lurch on the three way rent split. What to do? My remaining friend and I decided that this was the perfect time for us to vacation in Florida to think through our options. Cleaning out our small bank accounts, we headed south to live it up. Arriving home, unspeakably tan, I soon learned that I was being laid off due to job cuts. Arrggh. Okay, no job, no money, and certainly no fun. Couldn't even make one more months rent. Dad to the rescue, again. Shamefully, I was forced to move home. The end of life as I knew it. Goodbye, city life!! Back at the ranch, I had my own private bed, a shower AND a bathtub, no rent, and a full refrigerator. Could be worse right? RIGHT? No more splitting a chicken pot pie--they were 4 for a buck at the time! And cranberry cocktails before noon were frowned upon. But, as always, I survived. Unemployment kicked in till I found another job and another adventure could begin. And eventually, it did. Did I ever find myself? Yeah, I think I did. Just another hard knock with the lesson learned. Blah da blah blah blah. Now that I am secure and more than one mortgage payment away from homelessness, I still love to think on that period in my life and realize it will never be the same again. Thank God. xoxoo