Memories Rewind: Don’t Have Friends? Make ‘Em Up
I've already written about my oldest cousin's and my love of the Backstreet Boys from years gone by. This carried over into other areas of our lives as well.
"Ooh, how about Nick" my cousin said. "Yes, definitely Nick, I screamed, unable to contain my excitement at the mere thought of him. He's the cutest." As you can tell we had our priorities straight. Cuteness first. Everyone else later.
My grandmother knew we played this game quite often so she was kind enough to let us use her dusty blue phone just for this purpose. It was one of those phones that you put your finger in the whole of the number you wanted to dial and turn it completely around, then dial the next number until you were finished dialing. At our age we just knew it made a cool sound as we dialed the numbers. I now know it's a rotary phone, but if you would have told me that then, I would've rolled my eyes at you. We had boys to call.
Ring, ring. We waited with baited breath for our "boyfriends" to pick up on the other end. A phone call has to have two people to participate, so one of us had to be the boy. My cousin always played the boy role. "Hey Nick! Whatcha been up to?" I squeaked.
"Nothing much. What about you?" he bellowed. At this point, I had a hard time controlling my laughter on the other end. Imagine a 6 year old girl trying to imitate a boy. I dare you not to laugh. :)
"Have you been doing a lot of concerts lately?" I asked hoping to hear some cool stories.
"A few" was the curt reply. Well then.
"How's AJ? I coyly replied, smiling into the phone because of my quick wit. "That'll teach him to be rude," I thought. A girl has to keep her options open, so I figured it couldn't hurt to ask. What did I know about dating? All of my "expertise" came from watching Saved by the Bell and none of them had a great track record.
"He's fine," Nick said snappily. He wanted to be the center of attention and wasn't about to be dethroned by AJ. Since I was silent on the other end, he knew it was best to end this conversation that was more like survival of the hottest before it got ugly. "Talk to ya later," he sighed. He was beginning to realize this relationship stuff was hard work.
"Ok, love ya bye!" I hung up feeling like the luckiest girl in the world even though I didn't talk to him at all.
My cousin came into the room to get her turn, and I picked up the other phone. This could keep us entertained for hours. And the saga of famous boyfriends continued late into the afternoon.
When we were bored, we would go into my Memaw's guest bedroom and play. The door was shut not only to give us some privacy, but also to let our imaginations run wild without fearing anyone else had seen (or heard) our stupidity.
"Today we are going to call the Backstreet Boys," I said."Ooh, how about Nick" my cousin said. "Yes, definitely Nick, I screamed, unable to contain my excitement at the mere thought of him. He's the cutest." As you can tell we had our priorities straight. Cuteness first. Everyone else later.
My grandmother knew we played this game quite often so she was kind enough to let us use her dusty blue phone just for this purpose. It was one of those phones that you put your finger in the whole of the number you wanted to dial and turn it completely around, then dial the next number until you were finished dialing. At our age we just knew it made a cool sound as we dialed the numbers. I now know it's a rotary phone, but if you would have told me that then, I would've rolled my eyes at you. We had boys to call.
Ring, ring. We waited with baited breath for our "boyfriends" to pick up on the other end. A phone call has to have two people to participate, so one of us had to be the boy. My cousin always played the boy role. "Hey Nick! Whatcha been up to?" I squeaked.
"Nothing much. What about you?" he bellowed. At this point, I had a hard time controlling my laughter on the other end. Imagine a 6 year old girl trying to imitate a boy. I dare you not to laugh. :)
"Have you been doing a lot of concerts lately?" I asked hoping to hear some cool stories.
"A few" was the curt reply. Well then.
"How's AJ? I coyly replied, smiling into the phone because of my quick wit. "That'll teach him to be rude," I thought. A girl has to keep her options open, so I figured it couldn't hurt to ask. What did I know about dating? All of my "expertise" came from watching Saved by the Bell and none of them had a great track record.
"He's fine," Nick said snappily. He wanted to be the center of attention and wasn't about to be dethroned by AJ. Since I was silent on the other end, he knew it was best to end this conversation that was more like survival of the hottest before it got ugly. "Talk to ya later," he sighed. He was beginning to realize this relationship stuff was hard work.
"Ok, love ya bye!" I hung up feeling like the luckiest girl in the world even though I didn't talk to him at all.
My cousin came into the room to get her turn, and I picked up the other phone. This could keep us entertained for hours. And the saga of famous boyfriends continued late into the afternoon.
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