First Times....

I actually like memes, but most wind up in my draft folder. This one I couldn't resist for the mere fact the very quiet life I've led for the past 15 or so years is in direct contrast to a crazy childhood. This stroll down memory lane was inspired by Maryse's posting.

Who was your first prom date?
I went with a school friend, Eric Barbasso. I was asked the year before at a different school, but I was so shocked to be asked that I said no. The guy was wicked cute too. I am sad to report my interpersonal skills haven't much improved.

Do you still talk to your first love?
Very rarely, but oddly just two weeks ago.

What was your first alcoholic drink?
I don't recall but it was probably beer.

What was your first job for pay?
I started a paper route at age 11. I think the legal age for the job was 12 so I had to get some kind of special dispensation of sorts, but I don't remember what it was. Maybe they just looked the other way?

What was your first car?
I have never really owned my own car, but the first car my name was on the title of was a beloved 2002 Passat wagon. Her name was Ursulina. Too bad it turned out to have a lemon of a oil pan or something, so we had to trade it in two and a half years ago.

Who was the first person to text you today?
I rarely send or receive texts, so no one.

Who is the first person you thought of this morning?
Whoever was in my dream. I don't remember who it was, but I remember thinking about them. My dreams cling to me in the morning. It takes me five or 10 minutes to shake them off.

Who was your first grade teacher?
Mrs. Friedman of East School in Long Beach, NY.

Where did you go on your first ride on an airplane?
My sister and I flew alone to Florida to stay with our grandparents. I think I was around eight or nine years old. During our stay they took us to Disney and the hotel maids threw out my beloved blankie, mistaking it for a rag (which it was, of course, to everyone but me). I never had a blankie again. I'm nothing, if not loyal.

Who was your first best friend and are you still friends?
Danielle C who I met in Mrs. Friedman's first grade class. She stuck on me like glue.

My first real, joined at the hip, best friend was Laurie H. I met her when she transferred in to our district in 7th grade. We had a pretty intense friendship until she moved away when she was 15 or 16. Every few years we would catch up on the phone, but I haven't heard from her in about six or seven years.

What was your first sport played?
I think maybe basketball for like five minutes in 6th grade. Since I stopped growing when I was 12, at 4' 11", it was pretty clear, pretty quickly, it wasn't a good fit.

Who was the first person you talked to this morning?
The hubster.

Whose wedding were you first in?
I have never been in a wedding officially. However, when Laurie called me to come to her wedding I flew down to Florida and totally did the maid of honor thing, even though she didn't have a formal service.

What was the first thing you did this morning?
This falls into the TMI category...and get your mind out of the gutter, it wasn't that. ;-)

What was the first concert you went to?
My first concert was at age 14. I don't remember the club name, but it was a short lived bar in Island Park, NY. I saw the punk band, The Exploited at an all ages show. I didn't necessarily like this particular style of punk music, but I was in love with the idea of punk. The music was so loud my hearing was compromised for a good 12 or so hours, of which I was proud because I was 14 and studip! So the tinnitis I suffer from? Totally my own fault.

What was your first tattoo or piercing?
I think I had my ears pierced at age 12. Back then you usually got big round dots for earrings, but I got these really cute stars. I thought I was cooler than cool. I think I may still have one floating around in one of my treasure boxes.

What was your first run in with the law?
OMG! This is going to look poorly on me, but I love remembering this story. My family are mostly concientious, law abiding citizens; my mother was well known for her overprotective strictness. With that said, my mother (I grew up in a single parent household) has always been a little punk rock in her attitude about certain things. She generally did everything by the book, but when it came to certain things she completely ignored the rules. So, long story long...

When my Great Aunt Nettie died she left my mom a little cash and even though we were DIRT POOR, and my mom tracked every single cent she had with precision, she did not sock away the money for a rainy day. No, she totally went the carpe diem route and gave both my sister and I a "big" gift. I was 15 and my mom bought me a dirt bike style moped. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

Now mind you, she bought me the kind of vehicle which requires a license and a helmet, but totally ignored the fact that I had neither when I took my first test drive around the block in her presence.

Within 10 minutes I was witnessed breaking five laws by one of Long Beach's finest. Laws one and two were the lack of a license and a helmet; laws three and four are technically the same, two red lights I plowed through unheeding; law five was turning with a signal. Now in black and white that sounds kinda bad, and legally speaking, it was of course. But in reality, the streets were pretty empty and I had the road to myself, and I just rode the moped as one would ride a regular bicycle, exhilarated by the ride and completely oblivous to the rules of the road.

I don't remember how I was caught exactly, I just remember cowering in our apartment building foyer listening to my mom, who was standing just 10 feet away at the end our our stoop, successful talking down the cop. He wanted to throw the book at me, but she was a force to be reckoned with and I got off with a verbal warning. I walked away from that incident with absolutely no repercussions from her either. Considering all I had to do was wake up to get in trouble as a kid, my mother's laissez faire attitude about the moped incident will remain a fascinating mystery to me.

Who was your first roommate?
One of my greatest college disappointments, out of many, was having the freshman roommate I corresponded with over the summer never show up and having to live alone for my first few weeks in college. I totally remember her name even though I never met her: Tamara.

I was all alone, in a major city, in a new state, and had never made friends easily. I was gypped out of what I felt was guaranteed to be my new best friend (ahhh...to be young and oh so delusional again).

I was so overwhelmingly lonely I spent the first two days crying in the closet so no one would hear me. Even though I lived in three different rooms that year, in two different dorms, the three roommates I did have were short lived. The only name I remember is the one for the best friend who never was.

Wow! I haven't thought about this in years. I can't believe I've been holding this grudge these 20+ years. I think it's high time to let it go.

Where did you go in your first limo ride?
From Albany, NY to our home on LI, after a custody dispute when I was five or six. All I really remember was that the lawyer had candy, which I think were peanut M & M's.