I was 28 years old-living with one of my best friends in a rental townhouse; not far from where we both grew up. At that time, I thought my friend was so much more outgoing than I. She swam at the local community college, attended concerts, went out on sail boats around the Baltimore harbor and it's tributaries, and went to all kinds of bars and night clubs. I stayed at home; rarely going out. Compared to her, I was a 'homebody'. We both worked and visited one of the two community pools as often as we could after work or on weekends. She also enjoyed going to Ocean City, Maryland with friends. I did on rare occasion.
When I was in high school, I met a rather voluptuous girl. Her name was Sue. I was thin, flat chested, had straight long medium-dark brown hair, and large blue eyes. She had a curvy figure with large breasts, cat-like eyes, and should-length light brown hair which, her neighbor highlighted. I used Royal Blue Maybelline mascara and a bit of lip gloss. Sue on the other hand, took about an hour and a half to do her make up - full make up-and, another 20 - 30 minutes to iron her hair. And, she also used lip gloss-a LOT of it! She rarely went out of the house without makeup. We probably made a stunning entry wherever we went. We complemented one another based on the comments we received.
In high school, the vice principal once called me 'Ringrose-the-ring-leader' after finding out I had taken a group of girls to my house to lay out in the front yard to 'cop a tan'. We laid out for another 30 minutes or so and went back to school. No detention; no calls to our parents. That's how it was in the 70's. Sue and I constantly hooked school-all day; not just a class or two like the others. We partied hard together and loved playing vinyl records on her parents Zenith console. The whole house shook. A console was really cool until turntables and 6 foot speakers appeared. Her adoptive parents were not happy she was so close to a 'gentile' and encouraged her to stick with her 'own people'. We didn't care. Sue argued violently with them over this. We continued to hang out, cleaned her parents house, laughed, and danced.
Sue started experimenting with drugs. Of course, all the boys provided her with the pot, hash oil, and acid as well as alcohol and cigarettes. I was a bit more conservative on the drugs. My choice was Colt 45 malt liquor and Canadian Club. As we grew older, Sue met a psuedo-drug dealer. Maybe he was a real drug dealer. I know he always had drugs and sold them to a lot of people in the area. Sue changed. I would visit her and her boyfriend-they lived in a 1 bedroom with a kitchenette on the second floor of a retail store. When I stopped in to see her, she barely lifted her head up and looked dazed toward the floor as she spoke. Her head would gently wobble about her neck. There were always different people there and I didn't like how they looked-rather dirty and scraggly. I didn't visit often and she rarely called me. Sue changed-a lot.
We got the phone call in the early evening one spring day...I think it was spring. I can't quite recall but, what was significant was-the great emptiness I felt even though Sue and I had become estranged from one another. My heart felt like it had broken. It was as if a part of me vanished into thin air. There were no real answers about her death. I heard it was cancer. AIDS was gaining awareness and I wondered if she contracted it from one of her many partners. Sue had a lot of abortions. It was the 70's.
My roommate was a strong Catholic-a truly good Catholic from a very strong, Irish Catholic family. We talked a lot about Sue's death. Since we found out after the fact, we missed the service and funeral. My roommate told me: 'God has put us on this earth to learn from one another.' Throughout the years, that single comment has summed up so many experiences for me. Another way to learn is from others. Teach one another well OR learn from your own experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment