Times, they have changed!

                                        

 

I come from a large family, 7 children.  Five girls and 2 boys, I fall near the younger half and of course never let them forget it!  My sister just celebrated her 18th anniversary of turning 29.  I love that she is only 29 as that makes me 27, eternally!  Happy Birthday Karen!  

I went to a Catholic grammar school for all 8 years.  We wore the dreaded uniforms. The girls wore brown plaid jumpers until we got to seventh grade, then we could wear the same lovely brown plaid in a skirt.  A white Peter pan colored shirt, brown socks or pantyhose in the later years.  Boys wore white shirts that sported that lovely brown plaid tie and brown slacks.  We were a beautiful bunch.  I wasn't allowed to wear makeup until at least seventh grade and even then it was sparingly.  If I went out with boys, it was with a group.  A household rule!  Coming from this large family it was not even an option to go to a Catholic High School - not that I would want to.  In that day and age they were segregated boys & girls.  Eeeeeeewww!  LOL  So it was off to the public high school for me :)  

High School was a blast!  I went to school with a lot of the same kids I went to grammar school with and more that grew up in the area, we were a lively bunch.  I wasn't a straight A student by any stretch of the imagination but I held my own.  I ran track and was a cheerleader, but I also had a lot of friends that were, lets say from the other side of the tracks.  The 'clicks' back then were not like they are today, we mixed and mingled and crossed the lines regularly-the jocks, the heads, the nerds.  Ok, so maybe not over the nerd line often..........  

Once in High School it wasn't always cool to'date' as a group.  Boys & girls went to the movies, for a bite to eat, or just hung out, sometimes as a group sometimes as a couple.  Anytime I had a date I was not allowed to run out the door and meet the special boy at the end of the driveway, at the corner, or where ever it was we were going.  He had to come to the door and meet the parents.  You know, the dreaded 1000 questions by Dad!  Once I got older and we drove, forget the idea of pulling in the driveway and beeping or standing near the front of the car with the cool look.  He had to be a gentlemen and come to the door.  I think the drill got a bit tougher at that time, but it was common practice by most families so the guys were use to it.  

Fast forward to the year 2000.  Cars revving in the driveway with horns honking as girls go flying out the door without even a good bye.  Boys sleeping over at the girlfriends house and vice versa.  I'm not talking on the couch, but in rooms behind closed doors.  Hello!?!  You're in High School!!!  I am not condemning anyone, but when did this become ok?  When did parents start allowing teenagers of the opposite sex, with raging hormones spend the night together?  I am far from naive or a prude, or so I thought, but I don't get this!  I can't even imagine asking my parents for this type of permission or even just doing it.   :::sigh::: how things have changed!