It Was My Life

I wasn’t sure what to do. My life had just been turned up-side-down by the words that came out of my mothers mouth. We sat in the car outside the old brick police station as we waited for me dad to come back outside so we could go home.

I remember the day that started this off. My dad and I were heading to my grandparents house on a Sunday morning and the police flagged us down. It seem that he was speeding and he received his first every speeding ticket at the age of 43. I don’t think my dad was speeding because we had just been passed by a truck that had slammed on its breaks and pulled into a driveway. It didn’t matter as he handed the ticket to my father.

Apparently my dad didn’t pay for the ticket. He was being charged with driving on a suspended license after being pulled over by a cop who had run the plates on the car and saw there was a warrant out for his arrest. Small town cops with nothing better to do than check license plates.

Mom wasn’t very happy about all of this as you can guess. Anyway, as we waited she told e she had asked my dad for a divorce. She looked at me with her care worn eyes, searching for my feelings. How was I suppose to react? That’s great mom…I was looking forward to living in a broken home. But as I sat there trying to take in the words she had said, I knew it was the right thing to do.

Mom and dad had been fighting for a while. Most of the fights had to do with his drinking and his lack of ambition after the recession of the early 80s destroyed his company. Sure, he worked everyday but having your hard work fall to pieces will demoralize almost everyone.

The fighting was hard on me. My sister was married and so was no longer home. There were so many times I had to step in to get the fighting stopped…you can’t imagine. Then one day, there was a knock on the door. My father was served the divorce papers and asked to leave the house. I suppose it could have been a restraining order but I didn’t really know for sure.

Within six months we moved to Hinckley into a two bedroom duplex right next to the train tracks. My sister lived in town also which I think was a big part of why we moved there. I didn’t really have many friends there but I had my skate board and got to know people I already knew a little better. This was all during the summer before my Junior year.

Soccer started in August and it was good to be busy again. 2-a-day practices during the pre-season workouts got me in shape as I busted my ass for the ex-drill instructor who was our coach. It was during this time that I became close with a few of my teammates and we were soon heading out on Friday nights trying to catch a good buzz. It was easy to get beer in town as the 20 something losers would always get us a case if we bought them a 6-pack. Losers are easy to find in a small town.

The soccer season was a waste for the most part. Most of the team was more interested in getting drunk and it showed as failed to advance past the regional championship game. We lost to a team we had beaten twice already that year and to make matters worse, they ended up making it all the way to state. But…we still drank.

I had a few girl friends during the year and one in particular that stood out the most. Her name was Pam and we really got along great. But one day it was over as she dropped me like a bad habit. The pain was short lived because there was always a party to go to and she eventually moved a couple of months later. Maybe that was why she broke it off.

One of the best part of the year was going down state in basketball. We had a superstar player surrounded by some solid teammates as we won 18 games in a row at one point during the season. I didn’t play a lot but it doesn’t matter when you are a team player. During Regional and Sectional play we had some close games that really put us to the test. We moved through the Super-Sectional with ease as the star scored 55, actually scoring the same amount as our opponent. It all came to an end in the state quarter finals as our point guard got caught taking speed during the season and thus had no energy anymore after being forced to play clean. And our 2nd leading scorer (22 points per game) felt is was smart to get stoned just before the game and miss every shot he took from that point forward. Not a great end to the season. If people only knew some of the stuff that went on with that team.

The rest of my Junior year was spent drinking and walking through life without direction. But I had a lot of fun.

To be continued…