31 years ago tomorrow

four months after my last blog post the topic that compels me to post again is the content of that letter box. i spent the summer alternately working crazy hours and road tripping so i never finished clearing out that box. tonight i took another crack at it.
a few years ago i read some entries in the diary that i kept from january 1979 - march 1981. much page space was devoted to the crushes that i had and which of my friends were getting along. dull stuff. but! there are some entries that pretty entertaining.
it's a Hello Kitty diary, so all the entries begin, "dear kitty."
here is my entry from september 2, 1980

Fair!
tuesday september 2, 1980
Dear Kitty,
today ASB [Associated Student Body - i was in student gov't in 8th grade] had a meeting at school. We have a new Vice-Principal (Mr. Butler). GET THIS! He came from Markham [another Jr. High School] and Mr. Jay got transferred to Willow Glen High! [the H.S. i wanted to attend.] When BC & I found out we were trippin' way out! he knows Pat M. very well! I would guess so! (cute kitd that he is!) We (BC, Mary & Me) walked to Mary's baby sitting job then Karen drove us home.
I'm beginning to dig my stereo. Its sound is cool! Pat Benatar sounds excellent on it! (courtesy KSJO! #1!) love it, love it, love it!!
Don & Mom took me & Biz to the show and saw "Smokey & the Bandit II". It was sooo excellent! Jerry Reed saves the day! He's sooo cool!
This school year is gonna be a trip. "Sailing" just came on. I almost changed it then didn't cause it sorta keeps thoughts instead of bringing back memories. It's been 1 day since we left. Uvas [campground] now seems like a super great dream & we woke up when we drove through the gates. I thought about me & Herb smoking a "j". I wonder what {all the guys we met while camping} thought of me. I mean: ok kid, pesty twirp, ugly but nice. stupid personality. or something else like that. I wonder. Good to know? Bad to know? (Where on Earth shall we go? Is there anyone on Earth who will care? Is anybody out there?)
No, yes, maybe, I don't know. Can't tell. (what's with all the poetry? huh?!) this is too strange for me. G'nite.
Rock Rules

**************
post script
--the Don who took us to the movies was a family friend. he was from Michigan, living with us while he was getting cancer treatment at Stanford.
--My dad is a truck driver (still at age 76!) so "Smokey & the Bandit" was a big deal around our house. Also, during the 1970's my dad was a dead ringer for Jerry Reed. Really.
--from the time i was a tiny kid, every summer my family camped at a place called Uvas Meadows near Morgan Hill. my mom and i would spend weeks and weeks there. my grandparents also had a camp spot there. the month before this entry was my 13th birthday. my parents let me take 3 friends to Uvas for a week of camping and carrying on. a boy i'd met the previous summer was there with his cousins. we girls spent a lot of time walking past their camp, etc. anywhoo, for my 13 yr old self, this was a BIG week. i didn't have sex or anything, i think i just got a taste of hanging out with guys without being a silent wreck (i've read those earlier entries).

here is a bit of another entry:
Tuesday, January 13, 1981
...Uvas Meadows was sold. That means I'll never go back there for vacation again. Just to move the trailer. It has to be out by Feb. 15th. I just hit me. All my memories, 13 yrs of them, all left behind. Just gone. I don't know what to do now. (I should go to bed.)...

a bit melodramatic, but i was headed straight into surly-teen territory. *shudder*