Thursday, May 21, 2009

Don't You Forget About Me


When I was a senior in high school, one of the kids in our class organized a spring break trip to Bermuda. I don't know what my parents were thinking but they agreed I could go. I distinctly remember the cost being $510.00 for a full week at the Elbow Beach Hotel. I got my first part-time job as a bank teller to pay for the trip. My boyfriend of two years was already in college but he and most of my best friends' boyfriends also arranged to come with us.

Come April, we boarded a charter flight and headed to what is still one of the best vacations of my life. We ended up in a little two-room suite cabana overlooking the beautiful beach below. Unbeknownst to any of our parents, our room ended up with me, my boyfriend, Stephen, my best friend, Chris, her boyfriend, Pat, my friend Sue, and her boyfriend, Chris. We also had Joe, Chuck, Shelly, Jen, Sean, and half our senior class coming and going as they pleased. Some more than others.

It was an amazing vacation in a fabulous place. We rented mopeds and explored the island. I remember swimming out to dance on a reef to the music of The Bermuda Strollers reggae band as they played on our beach. I remember the tropical fish swimming along the reef that could put Nemo and his friends to shame.

Some nights, we would sit in the piano bar singing along to standards with Sid, the elderly British piano player. And we would drink rum swizzles and mai tais. We would travel between groups of friends, exploring, talking, laughing, and drinking. With this our first shot at legal drinking (18 in Bermuda), you can bet we over-indulged but for the most part, we never got too crazy or did anything too dangerous.

Except for one classmate, Frank, whom everyone had completely lost track of. There were occasional Frank sightings assuring us that he was, in fact, not dead. During one evening's wandering, there was one such siting - as Frank was being thrown out of some girls' room. He could be heard asking "How can I love you if you won't lie down?" And then he was gone. Like Bigfoot.

Fast forward hours or days and Stephen and I find ourselves sound asleep on the pull-out couch in the middle of the night. I awake from a strange dream in which Stephen was sleeping on both sides of me. As I step out of the ether, I realize that there are indeed two people in bed with me. It was Frank! (Near as we can figure, none of us locked the door and Frank, in an attempt to locate home base, had stumbled into our room, found a cozy bed, and snuggled in.) I smack Stephen awake and tell him Frank is in bed with us! Mostly asleep, he opens one eye, says "oh, it's just Frank" and attempts to go back to sleep. Um. No. He's gotta go.

He rouses and agrees to remove our 'guest' from our bed. Frank is not a small guy and he's dead weight so Stephen enlists a sleeping Patrick from the next room. Eventually, they move him out to our patio and throw him across a lounge chair, where he happily spent the remainder of night. We think.

We returned home from Bermuda with only one serious injury (Jen, broken arm - moped accident), nobody pregnant, and our parents none the wiser.

15 comments:

~Swankymama said...

This sounds divine! What a wonderful experience. I wish i had done more of this when i was younger!

Me, you, a beach, reggae.....soon!

Sue said...

That was one of the best weeks ever. So many crazy, funny, wonderful memories. I'd love to go back just for one day.

Life As I Know It said...

wow - I can't believe you went on a trip like that in high school! What great memories!

I loved the song that is the title of the post, too! Simple Minds?

Kate Coveny Hood said...

Um - do mom and dad read this blog?

natasha the exile on Mom Street said...

My son is never going on a senior trip.

But this is because he will never be a senior. Or a high schooler.

What's that?

La la la la!

I can't hear you!

Funnyrunner said...

Your parents were none the wiser... until now? Wow. My parents were pretty liberal and I would NEVER have been able to do that. That sounds awesome.

Mama Goose said...

HA! My sister and I stayed at the Elbow Beach Hotel on a Spring Break in '85(?) It was awesome! What great memories.

It's funny though, how much we "thought" we were getting away with and our mother ALWAYS knew...

anymommy said...

Like Big Foot - ahaha. Awesome.

Otter Thomas said...

Sounds like fun and now you have made me depressed. I need a tropical vacation.

Frank was awesome. "How can I love you if you won't lie down?" Classic.

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

Why is it that it sounds like a great thing for you to have done and a terrible thing for my kids to do?!

Jason, as himself said...

Fun, funny, but bizarre!

KC said...

Hmmm...I was already thinking there's no way in hell either child is going on spring break in COLLEGE.

It does sound like a blast though.

I went to Europe with a sanctioned school trip with boyfriend. But, the chaperoning was pretty fierce.

Sue said...

OK, I keep coming back to look at this picture, and I keep wondering why in the hell Joe is wearing a sweater, how looooong your legs are, how young I look, and how I really do miss Chris. Just me thinkin'.

JCK said...

How fun!! Great stories. Wonder what ol' Frank is up to these days?

{sue} said...

Sounds heavenly! And I love those outfits. And the 80s hair. That really was an awesome decade!

 

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