When I was a little kid, I remember my senior year of high school being something that I couldn’t wait for. The idea of adulthood and being able to make my own decisions seemed incredibly exciting to me and so being in twelfth grade was just going to have to be fantastic. At least that was the assumption that I carried with me until that magical time actually arrived in my life, and when it did arrive, boy did I have it all wrong. Instead, I was greeted with classes that I hated, friends that betrayed me and a home life that was the polar opposite of what I actually needed. Worse yet, the internal battle with myself was just starting to rise up.
Being a few months from graduation and on the cusp of adulthood really freaked me out because I felt like the only senior that didn’t have a plan for what was to come next. Everyone around me was heading off to college or going to work full time for a company that sounded great and here I was, clueless. I spent every afternoon of my senior year in a Cosmetology class at a tech school but I knew that I wasn’t going to devote my life to wrapping spiral perms and applying the perfect color to any ones’ head other than mine, in spite of already working in a salon. The class itself was pretty cool though, I mean you had 25 girls literally being graded on doing each others’ hair while listening to the radio!
It was a combination of kids from ten different school districts and that meant that I always knew what was going on outside of just my own school. My bubble was bigger than the typical high school kids’ and somehow I always knew what bands were coming into town as a last-minute stop before playing in a bigger city like Philadelphia or New York. The local skating rink had seen business dwindle as the end of the decade approached and in a stroke of genius, they began bringing in bands that were just starting to break through nationally. Rock groups like Winger, Trixter and even Ace Frehley all put on great shows in this unsuspecting little venue, but the night that stands out the most in my mind is when Warrant opened up for Skid Row. Warrant was brand new and extremely popular so literally, everyone that I knew was going.
Our cosmetology teacher, Mrs. G., was a pretty cool lady, married to the principal of my high school, and she always encouraged us to be independent and make our own money. She was really ahead of her time in so many ways and while she was in the business of beauty, she balanced it with drilling into our heads that we should present ourselves well enough to have guys chasing us, but enough of our own money to never settle for being taken care of by the wrong man. Mrs. G. was also a lot of fun and when she realized that her entire class was going to a concert a few hours after school let out she gave us a free day. She always encouraged the importance of getting ready for a special event and this one qualified as such, so we spent the afternoon washing, drying, teasing and curling each others’ hair.to 80’s helmet head perfection.
It had been a few years since I had last set foot in the skating rink and as I paid at the door and walked in with my friends I realized how different the energy was compared to the last time that I had been there- or even the first time! My first time in that building on skates was more than a decade earlier with my mom. She had bought me metal skates that fit over my sneakers and after I learned how to navigate the cracks in the sidewalks without falling she took me to the rink. I fell in love with skating for real on that very first afternoon.
Disco was blaring as I at first held her hand and hugged the wall. I kept falling because skating on the wood floor was so much smoother than the neighborhood sidewalks that it was hard for me to find my balance. Eventually, I got a little braver and hugged the wall without mom. I loved the anticipation of watching the big light-up board at the end of the rink that told you who could be on the floor. Couples skate, ladies skate, mens skate, the possibilities seemed almost endless and were timed to drum up anticipation. By the end of that very first skating session, I was doing just fine on my own and even jumping in on triple skate songs with friends from school.
Skating became a passion and I begged to go every week because it was what all the kids in my neighborhood did. Every party was held there and I always knew that if I was lucky enough to get through the front door then I would find friends to skate with. A big chunk of my childhood was spent in that building and so many little snippets of frozen moments came back to me as I found a spot on the floor to stand. What was once hair ribbons and cartoon character t-shirts was now hair spray and leather jackets with the tightest jeans imaginable.
It was one more thing that I was trading in for the adult version and the irony made me a little sad, at least until Warrant came out to play. My friends were all kind of obsessed with Jani Lane, the lead singer while I was crushing on Warrant’s drummer, Steven Sweet. Halfway through the first song I completely forgot where we actually were. Who knew that a rock band could actually sound good in such a little venue? They played most of the songs off of their debut album and then Skid Row’s set was just as great if not better.
As we piled into the car to go home I think the excitement was even bigger than what we had arrived with. Not only was it a great show but everyone’s hair had held up too! The rink owners were really onto something and any skepticism about live shows was gone. So much so that we were already planning to attend some of the upcoming shows at the rink. I was also cautiously optimistic because in this instance I had traded in something from my childhood and really enjoyed the new, age-appropriate version. It proved to me in one small way that it could happen, that I could be forced to grow up and find myself not only embracing the changes but enjoying them.
Leave a Reply