This is the post I meant to write two or three hours ago. I got home from the gym and thought I'd take a quick look at Facebook before I sat down to do my Pink Saturday post. I saw a link about the forty-fifth anniversary of Woodstock and thought I'd just spend a few minutes listening to Crosby, Stills and Nash singing "Woodstock." This might take fifteen minutes, maybe twenty. One song turned into another and another and I needed to hear several versions of "Suite Judy Blue Eyes" and now it's almost midnight. If you'll let me be very sentimental, I'll do my Pink Saturday post tomorrow, and tonight I'll spend a little while remembering the nineteen year old girl I was in the summer of Woodstock.
In the summer of 1969 I had finished my freshman year of college and was waitressing to earn money for sophomore year. At this point in the summer I had three more weeks of work and if I had taken off a weekend I would have been fired. I was the summer help, and if I left they wouldn't welcome me back. Amazingly enough those three weeks of work would pay for half a semester's tuition. I was practical and knew that I had a good summer job and the rock festival in upstate New York wasn't possible for me. But it didn't mean I didn't want to go. I achingly did.
My college friend Lucy had been there and I loved hearing her stories of the weekend when we were back at school. My friends and I listened to the "Woodstock" album at least a million times, and I'm sure I memorized every word.
Forty-five years have slipped by and I think its been decades since I have thought of that weekend in August I longed to be part of. My thoughts are so similar to those I had about my childhood in my last post. The memories that are the most vivid are the good ones. It's not the disappointment that rises to the top of my memory, but the times spent with my college friends singing along with the music and laughing.
The nineteen year old Carol could not have imagined the 64 year old woman I became and the world of 2014. But I wouldn't have become the person I am without those New England college years. Thanks, my friends, for so many sweet memories. We were stardust. We were golden, and we still are, forty five years later.
In the summer of 1969 I had finished my freshman year of college and was waitressing to earn money for sophomore year. At this point in the summer I had three more weeks of work and if I had taken off a weekend I would have been fired. I was the summer help, and if I left they wouldn't welcome me back. Amazingly enough those three weeks of work would pay for half a semester's tuition. I was practical and knew that I had a good summer job and the rock festival in upstate New York wasn't possible for me. But it didn't mean I didn't want to go. I achingly did.
My college friend Lucy had been there and I loved hearing her stories of the weekend when we were back at school. My friends and I listened to the "Woodstock" album at least a million times, and I'm sure I memorized every word.
Forty-five years have slipped by and I think its been decades since I have thought of that weekend in August I longed to be part of. My thoughts are so similar to those I had about my childhood in my last post. The memories that are the most vivid are the good ones. It's not the disappointment that rises to the top of my memory, but the times spent with my college friends singing along with the music and laughing.
The nineteen year old Carol could not have imagined the 64 year old woman I became and the world of 2014. But I wouldn't have become the person I am without those New England college years. Thanks, my friends, for so many sweet memories. We were stardust. We were golden, and we still are, forty five years later.
6 comments
Isn't it funny how wonderful days of long ago don't seem so long ago in our memories. I hope you're having a great weekend.
I enjoyed this post, Carol. My childhood friend Amy spent the day with me yesterday. We also attended jr. college together and were discussing how wonderful those years were.
Ahhhh sweet music and memories:) Enjoy your day dear friend, HUGS!
Buttercup, I am glad you have those wonderful memories. I think college years do stick with people. My college years came later in my life. Hope you have wonderful Sunday. xoxo,Susie
Sounds like good memories for you.
It's amazing how quickly the years fly by, and then a sudden memory makes it all feel as if it were just yesterday.
Love the way you ended your post. Woodstock changed us all in so many ways.
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