WANNA’ SIP?

Quote of the Day

“It was all that stuff about taking your parents’ car when you’re 13, sneaking booze into rock shows and ditching school with your friends. I could relate to that as a former teenager, rather than as a present parent.”

-Donal Logue

Here we are in the second week of February.  It’s cold and snowy outside; temps in the low 20′s.

This time of year takes me back to a few memorable moments from back in my early teen days; drinking.

I’m not talking hot chocolate either.

I’m talking booze.

Growing up in the neighborhood we all had a swig at the bottle (most of us that is).  In our apartment liquor was highly visible and available. My mother and father were both heavy drinkers.  I took a swig of gin when I was 12; my mom stored it in a liquor cabinet in our living room.

Two years later was the first time I drank with a group of friends.

My daughter is almost 13 years old. I look at her and wonder, ‘has she thought about drinking booze yet’?

For many neighborhood teenagers drinking took place inside Prospect Park.  We drank on the bleachers. At the corral, on the park bench, Cherry Hill, Suicide Hill, and I  recall drinking booze by Quaker cemetery.

My first experience was a bottle of Wild Irish Rose wine . I drank that because it was cheap; ninety-nine cents. A friend’s older brother collected the money from us and went to the liquor store on 16th street. Matter of fact, for a couple of years this fella was our ‘go-to’ guy on the weekends.

We would drink every Friday and Saturday night. Some kids drank beer, some drank vodka, some J.D., or in my case, Wild Irish Rose.

My choice of Wild Irish Rose had a sweet taste and boy did I get hammered.

Second time I drank it I puked my guts up.

These days I often wonder if teens in the neighborhood still get their booze on the weekend and hang out in Prospect Park?

Respectfully,

Steve

Hoops135@hotmail.com