When I hear songs from The Ataris album “So, Long Astoria, it takes me back to the summer of 2003 after my first year of community college. That was probably one of the best summers of my life, and I wish I could go back to those times often. It was so great because I had no real worries or responsibilities that summer. I was finally old enough in my parent’s eyes to stay out as late as I wanted and pretty much come and go as I pleased.
That summer I had quit my job as the manager of Magic Pan Pizza, a local shop in Amherst, Ohio to go and paint houses with my best friend Ben. His dad had done house painting for years in Amherst and built up quite a reputation, but before the summer started his dad was promoted to the Chief of the Fire Department and passed the painting business on to Ben. I was pretty awesome working for Ben. We would start work at 7 a.m. and work until around 1 or 2 in the afternoon. I seem to remember we painted a lot of houses for old ladies, and everything we painted was pink. We made pretty good money for a couple of 18 year olds. But now that I look back on it we could have worked a little harder and we would have made a lot more. I still got my bills paid though and was able to take Lindsey out whenever.
Usually after we would finish painting we would go and hang out at Ben’s house and hang out in the pool or play video games with our other friends, David and Dave. We played Tony Hawk Pro Skater and Grand Theft Auto III and GTA Vice City for hours at a time just rotating players and surfing the internet. We also drank Coca-Cola by the truckload that summer, and I wouldn’t be lying if we went through a case a day. Luckily Ben’s mom loved us all and kept more than enough on hand.
After hours of seclusion in Ben’s house, we would set off to cruise around town. We always ended up at Dunkin Donuts to hang out with all of the other car guys in town. Lindsey always made fun of us, but we would stay there sometimes until 2 or 3 in the morning before going home. If nothing was going on at Dunkin, we would just go and drive around and bullshit about life for a while until we felt like going home. We would always take Ben’s car, a 1992 Eagle Talon TSI, when it was running, or his mom’s Mercury Topaz, and we would just drive anywhere. Most of the time it was out in the country, Oberlin and Wellington areas because we could go fast and be stupid. We also always took Bens cars because his dad was the Fire Chief, we never got pulled over around town.
We did all sorts of dumb things that summer, it’s a miracle that no one got hurt or ended up in jail for something. One day we found an old pellet handgun, so we got the great idea that we should take Ben’s dad’s Red Rider BB Gun (like the one from A Christmas Story) and have a shootout inside of Ben’s house. This lasted until we all ran out of BB’s and no one was hurt, everyone walked away with both eyes and there wasn’t one broken window in the house. But that didn’t matter to Bens’ parents who were quite mad because there were BB’s all over the house that the cats could swallow, and that the Red Rider was Ben’s dads from his childhood. We also did some stupid things in our cars like drive way to fast in the country and trying to hit hills so fast that we would catch air in the car or Dave’s truck. One time, I remember we were in Dave’s truck and had Ben in the bed while we went over these hills at about 90 mph, and then Ben drove and Dave got in the bed of the truck to see what it felt like. We only did it once because after that we realized that if something went wrong at least one person would die. I think it was a few weeks later that Dave got pulled over going way to fast with Ben in the back. Luckily the state trooper didn’t have his radar on when he caught us and just gave Dave a warning. It didn’t hurt that he was also the same officer that handled the accident that Ben and Dave got in about a year earlier.
On Wednesday nights we would almost always be headed out to Norwalk to go watch the drag races at Norwalk Raceway Park. There were a few occasions that we all took our own crappy cars out there and raced them, but mostly we just hung out and watched. This was also one of my favorite nights because 1. I love cars and racing, and 2. Lindsey usually got come out with us. Her mom usually didn’t like her going out on week nights or ever really. I loved getting out there and being around all of the sights and smells of the raceway. I remember on time we were going out to the track with one of our other friends, and he didn’t have the $10 to get in so before we got there we pulled over and he got in the trunk of my car so we could sneak him in. Ben and I continued on to the gate to pay, and as we were waiting in line to get in, we started messing with the guy in the trunk by turning up my stereo which had (2) 12 inch subwoofers in the trunk, and he started banging on the trunk to get us to stop, but there was nothing he could do about it. We finally turned it down and got him to calm down as we approached the gate so we didn’t get busted and kicked out.
One particular Wednesday night, Ben or I will never forget. Ben had to get a hair cut before we left for the track and I as usual, was starving. So as he got his hair cut, I went to Burger King to get some food before we headed out to the track. We at the food on the 45 minute ride out to the track, and about 10 minutes before we got to the track, my stomach started making funny noises. And before I knew it, I really had to go to the bathroom, like bad. Unfortunately for me, there was no immediate place to go, and even though we were so close to the track, I needed to stop now. I spotted a row of trees in a field coming up on the side of the road, and told Ben that we need to stop because I had to go to the bathroom. He immediately thought I was joking and began laughing histerically. So I pulled over ran out of the car,and jumped the guardrail on the side of the road. As I began running through the field, at full speed, I could feel my stomach not wanting to wait any longer for me to find a place to squat down. And at that very moment, I stepped in a tractor rut that was hidden by all of the tall grass, my leg stopped moving because it was in the hole, but the rest of my body keep going and I twisted my knee around. As my body spun through the air, Ben laughing in the background, and the intense pain coming from my leg, by bowels decided that now was a good time to release, and I crapped my pants there in the field. One minute Ben saw me running, and the next I was gone, laying in pain in the tall field grass. I yelled for him to come and help me because I was in such great pain. I told him to grab my workout clothes from the back seat and the University of Toledo class catolog so that I could clean myself up. I attempted to stand up and almost fell over because my knee seemed to be bending the wrong way. After hobbling over to the tree line I was originally trying to get to, I managed to change my pants, and clean my self up as much as I could. I somehow made it back to my car where Ben, a friend I am forever in debt too for all his help in this situation, was still laughing his head off. He drove me back to Amherst Hosptial and called my parents and Lindsey for me and we all sat in the waiting room laughing about my unfortunate situation. Now I had orginially thought that I had broke my leg/knee cap, turns out I only severly twisted it and needed to stay off of it for a week or so. After a few days in bed and only moving around the upstairs of my parents house, I tried to go out and see Lindsey that Saturday night and missed a step going down the stairs and re-twisted my knee. It still bothers me sometimes to this day.
That summer was also the first time Ben and I had a shared birthday party. See Ben was born on June 24, 1984, and I was born on June 27, 1984, and since we were such good friends it only made sense we had a party together. I remember it being a pool party at Ben’s house and all of our friends were there. I also remember that Ben’s mom got us an Ice Cream Cake from Dairy Queen, and we ate that thing for about a week. This was also the time that we realized that one of Ben’s cats, Kitty, really liked Ice Cream Cake. It was the weirdest thing.
Right after our birthdays was the Fourth of July, and what do a couple of 19 year old kids to with their summer money in the boring Ohio summer? Well, go to Sandusky and buy fireworks of course. I remember going and buying these ones that were really cheap, like 5 for $6, and they were definitely worth the money. To light them you had to stick them on a piece of wood with a nail in it and they would sit on nail. After you lit it, it would spin around for a few seconds and then shoot up in the sky about 50 feet and explode with colors and make a loud bang. Well when we went to the store initially we only bought one box because we didn’t know what they did, but after we found out we went back the next day and bought about $50 worth of these things. They were cool for a while, but eventually we got bored with just lighting them off by themselves. So we decided that we would find something to strap to it see what happens. Well what we ended up finding was one of those poofy haired troll dolls that Ben had from a long time ago. So we tape this doll to the little rocket and took it into his back yard along with a video camera. I was taping as Ben lit it, Dave watched from behind a picnic table and Ben’s mom watched from the back patio laughing at our dumbasses. Needless to say, the launch didn’t go as planned. We didn’t account for the weight of the troll on the rocket and when it started to spin, the board it was on tipped over and shot right at us. I got the spinning part on tape, but when it turned over and shot at me I started running and all you could see was the ground and me and Ben cursing to get out of the way and Ben’s mom laughing hysterically at us. Unfortunately the video didn’t turn out that well due to the technology at the time or else I am pretty sure we could have won some money from America’s Funniest Home Videos. After that incident we had like 10 – 20 of these things left over, and we ended up driving around one night lighting them and throwing them out of the car or putting them in people’s mailboxes to see what they would do.
This was also the summer that Ben’s girlfriend at the time was working at Hastee Tastee, the local ice cream hangout in downtown Amherst. We would go up there all the time to see her. It was a little ridiculous how much time we spent there just so he could talk to her in between the orders she was taking. I love Ben, but that was probably one of the worst parts of the summer because while they were all googely eyed over each other, I was there by myself bored out of my mind.
Lindsey worked a lot that summer. Since she had just graduated high school and was getting ready to go off to Toledo for college she was trying to save money. With work and her mom hardly ever letting her out the house, we didn’t get to see each other as often as I would have liked. That summer she also spent 2 weeks in Spain and Paris with a group from school. Although she worked more than I did and her mom watched her like a hawk, we did get to spend a lot of time together. We would hang out at my parent’s house and watch movies or go swimming over Ben’s. We spent as much time together that summer as we could and let our love for each other keep growing.
2003 was also the summer of the massive blackout that knocked out all electrical power around most of the states surrounding the Great Lakes. I remember it well, I took a nap that afternoon and when I woke up nothing worked, lights, fans, T.V.’s, nothing. This was not really that unusual at first because sometimes when it would get very hot outside the power grid would overload and shut down from all of the air conditioners and fans running. But after an hour or so of nothing coming back on we started to get worried, and after checking the radio we heard that it was a blackout. I immediately called Lindsey at work to make sure that when she left she drove carefully. I then called Ben to see what he was doing and he said he was on his way over to pick me up and that we had a mission. Turns out that Ben’s dad, Wayne, needed us to go around and see if we could get as much gasoline as possible for his fish tanks. See Wayne had a side business breeding fish and had about 50 fish tanks in their basement, and if he couldn’t keep his generator running while the power was out he was going to lose money if the fish died. The problem was he couldn’t go to any gas stations for gas because the pumps ran off electricity and since the power was out he needed another solution. So Ben and I went around and got gas for his generator from my parents, Lindsey’s mom, and my grandparents since they were out of town we took all we could. My mom was worried about us driving around in the blackout because of the idiot drivers that don’t realize that when the power is out and the traffic lights don’t work, the intersection becomes a 4 way stop. After driving around getting gas we went back out on the town as usual for a summer night, except this time everything was black. It was really weird not seeing any lights on anywhere. I think the power was out for probably 8 to 10 hours that day. It didn’t come back on until later at night when we were hanging out at Dave’s house.
A few weeks after my knee incident, my summer was quickly coming to an end. I had to stop painting with Ben, and pack up my room to go away to Toledo.
Maybe someday my children and their children will see this and get a better in-sight as to who I was.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
2001-2002 – Senior Year high school
Going into the summer of 2001, starting my final year of high school was probably the one of the most exciting times of my life. I had finally gained some confidence and opened up more. I wasn’t as shy and reserved as I had always been. I had spent all summer hanging out with my friends and Linze before she left for college. We had dated in the fall of my junior year, and had broken up just before Christmas of 2000.
Linze and I had reconnected after school ended and met up a few times at different graduation parties. I never really saw the relationship going anywhere after the summer ended. She was going away to Ashland University and I was starting my senior year, and I had a few other girls I was interested in once school started. After band had started that July, we still hung out when we could between our work schedules and band practice. When band camp started though, I started hanging out with another Lindsey more and more. I had dated this Lindsey earlier that spring and we remained friends through band and through the summer but my focus was on the other Linze at the time. I think Lindsey and I had a connection in band because we were both in similar situations. We were both dating people that had just graduated high school and we about to leave for college. The possibility of attempting long distance relationships were both in our futures, and we both didn’t know if that’s what we wanted.
As band camp ended and school began, Lindsey and I were spending more and more time together, so much so that our friends could already see that we were quickly becoming more that just friends. The problem, at the time, was that we were both, technically still with our other significant others (both of whom had left for school). It was only a matter of weeks before both relationships had ended and we could date exclusively.
During all of this between the two Lindsey/Lindz’s, school had started and life went on as normal. My classes were keeping me busy with work and band thrown in the mix. My day at school was great, I started every morning that fall semester with Astronomy class. This class was great for two reasons: 1. It was an easy class, not a lot of homework or hard tests, and it was an interesting class with an awesome teacher. 2. I was taking the class with a few of my really good friends. After Astronomy class, I had Algebra 2, which at the time I hated because it was a math class. Band and lunch followed Algebra, both of which were great because Band was life at the time and all of my friends were there. I finished my day out with Senior English, which was the hardest class I took that semester, but wasn’t too bad because of the teacher and the other students in the class.
School started at the end of August, and just as we were getting back into the routine of classes, work and band, September 11, 2001 arrived. The day started off as any other day would. Lindsey and I hanging out by the lockers outside of my Astronomy class waiting for the bell to ring. That day’s lesson in Astronomy was about Sun Spots, and we went outside with a special telescope to look at the sun to look for these Sun Spots. I remember specifically as we were looking up in the sky, someone pointing out a plane that, at the time, seemed to be making an unusual turning maneuver. At the time this time, we all brushed it off as nothing. We didn’t find out about what was happening in New York or Washington D.C. until the next period. For some reason that memory sticks out in my mind, that plane we saw that morning could have very well been the plane that turned around over the Cleveland, Ohio area and eventually was brought down in the fields of Western Pennsylvania. We went back into the school and changed classes and about 10 minutes into the Algebra lesson, the Assistant Principal came on over the loudspeaker and made everyone aware of the unfolding events and wanted all teachers to stop their lessons and turn on the TV’s in the room. At the time, I remember being in shock at what we saw, but still not knowing what was going on and not taking it as seriously as we should have. We didn’t have any lessons in class for the rest of the day except for English. Our teacher said when we went to class that we had seen enough for the day and went on with her lesson as planned. Later that week she had changed her mind and rather than have a lesson that Friday we all sat in a big circle and discussed how we felt about the situation and how it would affect our lives. Band practice was canceled and everyone was sent home at after school. I remember in the days after, no one really knowing what was happening to our country and how to grasp what had just happened.
Nothing like 9/11 had ever happened in my lifetime, or my parent’s lifetime for that matter. The last major attack of the country on U.S soil was Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and that was over 50 years ago. We as a nation had so much access to what was happening; we were able to witness the events as they unfolded rather than reading about it in a news paper or hearing it on the radio. In the weeks following the attack, American Flags were flown everywhere and all kinds of patriotic songs hit the airwaves, and playing the National Anthem at football games on Friday nights took on a whole new meaning. I know that when the attack happened, it didn’t really hit home to me what had happened. All the lives that were taken, the fact that two of the tallest buildings in the world were just taken down by commercial airliners didn’t really get to me. It was the one year anniversary of the attacks when it really hit me, and really hit me hard. I remember sitting in front of the TV watching the History & Discovery Channel programs on the attacks and just being so moved at what I was seeing. It was like I was seeing it for the first time, even though I had seen the very same footage one year earlier.
After the 9/11, Lindsey and I started to really build our relationship. She was having a hard time dealing with everything that was going on in the news, at the time there were all kinds of threats dealing with Anthrax being mailed to random people, and all kinds of other rumors with concerning terrorist attacks. I remember her telling me that I was one of the few people that she trusted and that meant a lot to me at the time. By then end of September, early October we had began seriously dating, she has always said that our Anniversary of when we started dating was October 4, 2001. I don’t know if this was the official date, but she has always said it was so I went along with it.
As the school year progressed, the end of the football season was quickly approaching and that meant that marching band would be ending as well. This year, was by far, the best year of band yet. My friends and I were all seniors, we had a new, young band director and it seemed like every football game or band show we played we nailed the routines and music perfectly. Every year, at the last game, the band seniors were allowed to pick their own music and help with designing the routine. This year though, we went all out and asked if we could do things a little different than years past. We wanted to pick our own music, design the routines and dress in Halloween costumes since that final football game was the day before Halloween. The band director loved the idea and we chose to use music from ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. After a month’s worth of practice and marching, the show went off just as planned. It was decided that we had to march the pre-game show with our regular uniforms on and instead of going back to our seats we would go back into the school and change out of our uniforms and into our costumes. Then we waited behind the stadium until right before half-time to come back out on the field so the audience wouldn’t know what was going on. The audience was blown away by the show and all of the theatrics that went on. It was the perfect end to one of the best times of my life. Even though it was officially the last game of the season, the football team made it to the playoffs that year, but I missed that final game because I had my wisdom teeth removed a few days before. I wish I could have been there for that last game, even if I wouldn’t have played, but my parents wouldn’t let me go.
After marching band ended, concert band season began and we all had to do tryouts for it, just like we did every year. I remember practicing especially hard this year because it was my last year to try and make the Wind Ensemble (the top tier band). I had always considered myself to be a pretty decent trumpet player, I had a good range and could read music pretty well, but like my social life, when it came to playing by myself in public or for the director I would tense up and get nervous. All throughout high school I had never had a great tryout experience; my nerves got the best of me every time. This year was different though, I was more confident and know the tryout piece well. When the time came for the announcement of who got into what band I waited patiently as the names of were read. Unfortunately my name was not called for the Wind Ensemble, but it was called for the 1st Chair 1st Trumpet in the Symphonic Band (the middle tier) band. At first I was very upset with the director and how could he not put me in Wind Ensemble, especially since there were a few players that made it in, that were not as strong of players as me. However, after a days thought about the situation, I realized that our director felt that he needed a strong player at the top of the symphonic band. I also didn’t mind it because he sat me next to one of my best friends, Josh, and Lindsey was two seats down from that. By making me 1st chair, the director also made sure that in all three concerts that year he gave me solo’s in at least one song per concert. I dreaded it at the time, but looking back on it he helped me with my confidence by being able to stand up and play with a band backing me in front of 1000 or so people.
As Fall semester ended and Spring semester began, I had to make the decision on what I wanted to do after high school. At the time it wasn’t a hard one since I knew that Lindsey had one year left of high school and because I didn’t know what I wanted to do at college, I decided to go to Lorain County Community College for a year. I did this for a couple of reasons: 1. I wanted to wait for Lindsey to finish school to see where the relationship was at that point. 2. I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. 3. Community college was a cheap and easy way to get a few classes out of the way and it let me stay at home and work and see Lindsey.
Knowing that I was going to LCCC in the fall, I had set up my final semester in school to be a very easy one. Looking back on it I should have taken more classes and pushed myself so that college classes wouldn’t be as hard. My day started off with Psychology, which was awesome because it was a piece of cake class and my two best friends, David and Ben were in the class with me. 2nd period was a study hall in Senior Lounge that I also shared with David and Ben. Study hall was followed by a combination of Band, Study Hall and Lunch. This was supposed to be followed by a Finance class that I elected to take because it was easy, but after one day in there and seeing all of the other slackers in the class, I decided to drop it for Drama. I had never done any plays or been a member of the Drama club throughout school, even though both of my parents participated in it. I decided on Drama because it was once again an easy class, and I had a whole bunch of friends taking the class that were I knew from Band, including one of my best friends David B. That semester ended up being one of the best times I have ever had in school. There was very minimal work and I was practically hanging out with my best friends all day.
Winter turned to Spring and as it usually does in Ohio, and everywhere else, everything started coming back to life. The cold weather and clouds were gone, and the sun and warm weather were slowly starting to arrive, and before we knew it, Senior Prom was right around the corner. I of course didn't have a hard time finding a date since I was with Lindsey. We decided to go in a group with a bunch of my friends from band and their dates. I really don't have a whole lot to say about the dance for two main reasons:; 1. I don't dance. Well let me put it this way, I will dance if I have enough alcohol in me, but back then I didn't drink so therefore I didn't dance. 2. Prom was super expensive and after going it really wasn't worth the price. I think I had more fun after Prom when we all went back to my parents house and had a mini-After Prom party. Stayed up almost all night watching movies, playing games and just hanging out. The next morning we all got back together and went to Hinkley State Park to go hiking and have a cookout. It was a pretty fun day, we hiked some trails for a while, had a cookout, which I will never forget because me and my friend Jake attempted to start the charcoal grill with bug spray and got yelled at by Adam for being idiots and not knowing how to start a fire. We then went to go canoeing on the lake and Lindsey and I decided to stay behind to relax and get away from the group because they were kind of driving us crazy. And finally to finish the day off, Adam and my other friend David had to break into the canoe shop to get their drivers license's back because the people who ran the canoe service took them to hold them as a deposit on the canoes, and decided to leave and go on break while everyone was out canoeing.
Throughout my Senior Year, I worked at one of the local pizza shops in Amherst call Magic Pan Pizza. I started working there in May of 2001. At the time the only people I knew that worked there was my friend Ben, who at the time I hardly knew, and a few other girls from church. As time went on though, I got to know everyone else there, and most of them were pretty cool people. We were all younger, and knew that this job wasn't going to be forever so none of us really took it too seriously. We used to do all kinds of stupid things there, its a miracle we didn't burn that place down. Although one Friday night, the manager at the time, Paul, almost killed us all when he forgot to turn on the oven's ventilation fan. None of us realized it all night until it was almost closing time when we all started getting headaches. See, because the fan wasn't on, all of the exhaust fumes from the oven were circulating inside the building rather than venting outside, giving us all Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Thank god we all were ok. Paul didn't last at Magic Pan much after that and was fired after he got a bunch of DUI's and busted for drugs. I worked there through the summer after I graduated and took a manager's position, Paul's position actually, and was one of three managers at the shop throughout my first year in college.
As the last semester of school sped by my days consisted of school, work and trying to spend as much time with Lindsey as I could. Her mom was very protective of her and she could only come over and hang out at certain times and wasn't allowed to do as much as I was. Most of the time we had to wait until it was the weekend and she went to her dad's house. He was more relaxed on her curfew and when we could hang out. We were young and in love and couldn't see enough of eachother. I knew from the begining that she was the one for me. She understood me, I felt comfortable around her, and she brought out the best in me. She still does as a matter of fact. But as the last week of school approached she was unsure about what would happen to us. We both didn't want our relationship to end, but she knew what it was like dating someone older that wan't in high school anymore. I remember on my last day of school, going to leave after my last final and saying goodbye to her. You would have thought that I was saying goodbye forever, she wouldnt let go of me in the hallway. I told her that we would be alright and make it through whatever obstacle came our way, and that I wouldn't let anything happen to what we had togther. And as I write this today, we have made it through some really hard patches, and are still standing stong, side by side.
Now as finals ended, my friends and I were riding high, and thought we were kings of it all. Because we had such an easy schedule and we were all in the same classes, and we were allowed to leave after our finals were done, we just went back to mine or Ben's house and hung out for the rest of the day. We had cookouts, and played kickball in the street like we were little kids again. We went to graduation rehersal that Friday morning and went through all the things we would be doing for real that coming Sunday. And before you knew it, graduation day was here. It was a hot sunny day in early June of 2002. Our graduation ceremony was at the Lorain Palace Theater because the school gym wasn't big enough to hold all of the people. I think it was even hotter up on stage then it was outside, and we all couldn't wait for it to be over. Speeches were read, some people were sad, some were happy. I think, at the time, I was more happy to be done with school that being sad about it. It really didn't hit me until a few months later that I would never be going back and that I actually missed it. I had some of the best times of my life that last year of school and wish I would have been more outgoing and not so shy though my first few years there. It was a great time in my life and I will never forget it.
Linze and I had reconnected after school ended and met up a few times at different graduation parties. I never really saw the relationship going anywhere after the summer ended. She was going away to Ashland University and I was starting my senior year, and I had a few other girls I was interested in once school started. After band had started that July, we still hung out when we could between our work schedules and band practice. When band camp started though, I started hanging out with another Lindsey more and more. I had dated this Lindsey earlier that spring and we remained friends through band and through the summer but my focus was on the other Linze at the time. I think Lindsey and I had a connection in band because we were both in similar situations. We were both dating people that had just graduated high school and we about to leave for college. The possibility of attempting long distance relationships were both in our futures, and we both didn’t know if that’s what we wanted.
As band camp ended and school began, Lindsey and I were spending more and more time together, so much so that our friends could already see that we were quickly becoming more that just friends. The problem, at the time, was that we were both, technically still with our other significant others (both of whom had left for school). It was only a matter of weeks before both relationships had ended and we could date exclusively.
During all of this between the two Lindsey/Lindz’s, school had started and life went on as normal. My classes were keeping me busy with work and band thrown in the mix. My day at school was great, I started every morning that fall semester with Astronomy class. This class was great for two reasons: 1. It was an easy class, not a lot of homework or hard tests, and it was an interesting class with an awesome teacher. 2. I was taking the class with a few of my really good friends. After Astronomy class, I had Algebra 2, which at the time I hated because it was a math class. Band and lunch followed Algebra, both of which were great because Band was life at the time and all of my friends were there. I finished my day out with Senior English, which was the hardest class I took that semester, but wasn’t too bad because of the teacher and the other students in the class.
School started at the end of August, and just as we were getting back into the routine of classes, work and band, September 11, 2001 arrived. The day started off as any other day would. Lindsey and I hanging out by the lockers outside of my Astronomy class waiting for the bell to ring. That day’s lesson in Astronomy was about Sun Spots, and we went outside with a special telescope to look at the sun to look for these Sun Spots. I remember specifically as we were looking up in the sky, someone pointing out a plane that, at the time, seemed to be making an unusual turning maneuver. At the time this time, we all brushed it off as nothing. We didn’t find out about what was happening in New York or Washington D.C. until the next period. For some reason that memory sticks out in my mind, that plane we saw that morning could have very well been the plane that turned around over the Cleveland, Ohio area and eventually was brought down in the fields of Western Pennsylvania. We went back into the school and changed classes and about 10 minutes into the Algebra lesson, the Assistant Principal came on over the loudspeaker and made everyone aware of the unfolding events and wanted all teachers to stop their lessons and turn on the TV’s in the room. At the time, I remember being in shock at what we saw, but still not knowing what was going on and not taking it as seriously as we should have. We didn’t have any lessons in class for the rest of the day except for English. Our teacher said when we went to class that we had seen enough for the day and went on with her lesson as planned. Later that week she had changed her mind and rather than have a lesson that Friday we all sat in a big circle and discussed how we felt about the situation and how it would affect our lives. Band practice was canceled and everyone was sent home at after school. I remember in the days after, no one really knowing what was happening to our country and how to grasp what had just happened.
Nothing like 9/11 had ever happened in my lifetime, or my parent’s lifetime for that matter. The last major attack of the country on U.S soil was Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and that was over 50 years ago. We as a nation had so much access to what was happening; we were able to witness the events as they unfolded rather than reading about it in a news paper or hearing it on the radio. In the weeks following the attack, American Flags were flown everywhere and all kinds of patriotic songs hit the airwaves, and playing the National Anthem at football games on Friday nights took on a whole new meaning. I know that when the attack happened, it didn’t really hit home to me what had happened. All the lives that were taken, the fact that two of the tallest buildings in the world were just taken down by commercial airliners didn’t really get to me. It was the one year anniversary of the attacks when it really hit me, and really hit me hard. I remember sitting in front of the TV watching the History & Discovery Channel programs on the attacks and just being so moved at what I was seeing. It was like I was seeing it for the first time, even though I had seen the very same footage one year earlier.
After the 9/11, Lindsey and I started to really build our relationship. She was having a hard time dealing with everything that was going on in the news, at the time there were all kinds of threats dealing with Anthrax being mailed to random people, and all kinds of other rumors with concerning terrorist attacks. I remember her telling me that I was one of the few people that she trusted and that meant a lot to me at the time. By then end of September, early October we had began seriously dating, she has always said that our Anniversary of when we started dating was October 4, 2001. I don’t know if this was the official date, but she has always said it was so I went along with it.
As the school year progressed, the end of the football season was quickly approaching and that meant that marching band would be ending as well. This year, was by far, the best year of band yet. My friends and I were all seniors, we had a new, young band director and it seemed like every football game or band show we played we nailed the routines and music perfectly. Every year, at the last game, the band seniors were allowed to pick their own music and help with designing the routine. This year though, we went all out and asked if we could do things a little different than years past. We wanted to pick our own music, design the routines and dress in Halloween costumes since that final football game was the day before Halloween. The band director loved the idea and we chose to use music from ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. After a month’s worth of practice and marching, the show went off just as planned. It was decided that we had to march the pre-game show with our regular uniforms on and instead of going back to our seats we would go back into the school and change out of our uniforms and into our costumes. Then we waited behind the stadium until right before half-time to come back out on the field so the audience wouldn’t know what was going on. The audience was blown away by the show and all of the theatrics that went on. It was the perfect end to one of the best times of my life. Even though it was officially the last game of the season, the football team made it to the playoffs that year, but I missed that final game because I had my wisdom teeth removed a few days before. I wish I could have been there for that last game, even if I wouldn’t have played, but my parents wouldn’t let me go.
After marching band ended, concert band season began and we all had to do tryouts for it, just like we did every year. I remember practicing especially hard this year because it was my last year to try and make the Wind Ensemble (the top tier band). I had always considered myself to be a pretty decent trumpet player, I had a good range and could read music pretty well, but like my social life, when it came to playing by myself in public or for the director I would tense up and get nervous. All throughout high school I had never had a great tryout experience; my nerves got the best of me every time. This year was different though, I was more confident and know the tryout piece well. When the time came for the announcement of who got into what band I waited patiently as the names of were read. Unfortunately my name was not called for the Wind Ensemble, but it was called for the 1st Chair 1st Trumpet in the Symphonic Band (the middle tier) band. At first I was very upset with the director and how could he not put me in Wind Ensemble, especially since there were a few players that made it in, that were not as strong of players as me. However, after a days thought about the situation, I realized that our director felt that he needed a strong player at the top of the symphonic band. I also didn’t mind it because he sat me next to one of my best friends, Josh, and Lindsey was two seats down from that. By making me 1st chair, the director also made sure that in all three concerts that year he gave me solo’s in at least one song per concert. I dreaded it at the time, but looking back on it he helped me with my confidence by being able to stand up and play with a band backing me in front of 1000 or so people.
As Fall semester ended and Spring semester began, I had to make the decision on what I wanted to do after high school. At the time it wasn’t a hard one since I knew that Lindsey had one year left of high school and because I didn’t know what I wanted to do at college, I decided to go to Lorain County Community College for a year. I did this for a couple of reasons: 1. I wanted to wait for Lindsey to finish school to see where the relationship was at that point. 2. I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. 3. Community college was a cheap and easy way to get a few classes out of the way and it let me stay at home and work and see Lindsey.
Knowing that I was going to LCCC in the fall, I had set up my final semester in school to be a very easy one. Looking back on it I should have taken more classes and pushed myself so that college classes wouldn’t be as hard. My day started off with Psychology, which was awesome because it was a piece of cake class and my two best friends, David and Ben were in the class with me. 2nd period was a study hall in Senior Lounge that I also shared with David and Ben. Study hall was followed by a combination of Band, Study Hall and Lunch. This was supposed to be followed by a Finance class that I elected to take because it was easy, but after one day in there and seeing all of the other slackers in the class, I decided to drop it for Drama. I had never done any plays or been a member of the Drama club throughout school, even though both of my parents participated in it. I decided on Drama because it was once again an easy class, and I had a whole bunch of friends taking the class that were I knew from Band, including one of my best friends David B. That semester ended up being one of the best times I have ever had in school. There was very minimal work and I was practically hanging out with my best friends all day.
Winter turned to Spring and as it usually does in Ohio, and everywhere else, everything started coming back to life. The cold weather and clouds were gone, and the sun and warm weather were slowly starting to arrive, and before we knew it, Senior Prom was right around the corner. I of course didn't have a hard time finding a date since I was with Lindsey. We decided to go in a group with a bunch of my friends from band and their dates. I really don't have a whole lot to say about the dance for two main reasons:; 1. I don't dance. Well let me put it this way, I will dance if I have enough alcohol in me, but back then I didn't drink so therefore I didn't dance. 2. Prom was super expensive and after going it really wasn't worth the price. I think I had more fun after Prom when we all went back to my parents house and had a mini-After Prom party. Stayed up almost all night watching movies, playing games and just hanging out. The next morning we all got back together and went to Hinkley State Park to go hiking and have a cookout. It was a pretty fun day, we hiked some trails for a while, had a cookout, which I will never forget because me and my friend Jake attempted to start the charcoal grill with bug spray and got yelled at by Adam for being idiots and not knowing how to start a fire. We then went to go canoeing on the lake and Lindsey and I decided to stay behind to relax and get away from the group because they were kind of driving us crazy. And finally to finish the day off, Adam and my other friend David had to break into the canoe shop to get their drivers license's back because the people who ran the canoe service took them to hold them as a deposit on the canoes, and decided to leave and go on break while everyone was out canoeing.
Throughout my Senior Year, I worked at one of the local pizza shops in Amherst call Magic Pan Pizza. I started working there in May of 2001. At the time the only people I knew that worked there was my friend Ben, who at the time I hardly knew, and a few other girls from church. As time went on though, I got to know everyone else there, and most of them were pretty cool people. We were all younger, and knew that this job wasn't going to be forever so none of us really took it too seriously. We used to do all kinds of stupid things there, its a miracle we didn't burn that place down. Although one Friday night, the manager at the time, Paul, almost killed us all when he forgot to turn on the oven's ventilation fan. None of us realized it all night until it was almost closing time when we all started getting headaches. See, because the fan wasn't on, all of the exhaust fumes from the oven were circulating inside the building rather than venting outside, giving us all Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Thank god we all were ok. Paul didn't last at Magic Pan much after that and was fired after he got a bunch of DUI's and busted for drugs. I worked there through the summer after I graduated and took a manager's position, Paul's position actually, and was one of three managers at the shop throughout my first year in college.
As the last semester of school sped by my days consisted of school, work and trying to spend as much time with Lindsey as I could. Her mom was very protective of her and she could only come over and hang out at certain times and wasn't allowed to do as much as I was. Most of the time we had to wait until it was the weekend and she went to her dad's house. He was more relaxed on her curfew and when we could hang out. We were young and in love and couldn't see enough of eachother. I knew from the begining that she was the one for me. She understood me, I felt comfortable around her, and she brought out the best in me. She still does as a matter of fact. But as the last week of school approached she was unsure about what would happen to us. We both didn't want our relationship to end, but she knew what it was like dating someone older that wan't in high school anymore. I remember on my last day of school, going to leave after my last final and saying goodbye to her. You would have thought that I was saying goodbye forever, she wouldnt let go of me in the hallway. I told her that we would be alright and make it through whatever obstacle came our way, and that I wouldn't let anything happen to what we had togther. And as I write this today, we have made it through some really hard patches, and are still standing stong, side by side.
Now as finals ended, my friends and I were riding high, and thought we were kings of it all. Because we had such an easy schedule and we were all in the same classes, and we were allowed to leave after our finals were done, we just went back to mine or Ben's house and hung out for the rest of the day. We had cookouts, and played kickball in the street like we were little kids again. We went to graduation rehersal that Friday morning and went through all the things we would be doing for real that coming Sunday. And before you knew it, graduation day was here. It was a hot sunny day in early June of 2002. Our graduation ceremony was at the Lorain Palace Theater because the school gym wasn't big enough to hold all of the people. I think it was even hotter up on stage then it was outside, and we all couldn't wait for it to be over. Speeches were read, some people were sad, some were happy. I think, at the time, I was more happy to be done with school that being sad about it. It really didn't hit me until a few months later that I would never be going back and that I actually missed it. I had some of the best times of my life that last year of school and wish I would have been more outgoing and not so shy though my first few years there. It was a great time in my life and I will never forget it.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
1984-89 - House In Lorain
I grew up in a family owned house on North Ridge Road in Lorain Ohio. The house sat on what was once my mothers family's land. I lived in the house with my parents on the first floor, and the second floor was rented out to other people or families. As you entered the house from the side door, you went into the dining room, which as I remember, had a multi-color blue rug. Off the left of the dining room was a small kitchen and eating area and the door to the back yard. The living room was located off the right side of the dining room. Through the living room you could take an immediate right down stairs into the basement, a right into my room, or straight into my parents room or out to the front porch. At this time, I can't remember where exactly the bathrooms were, I think there was one next to the stairs to the basement. Out front there was a covered front porch and what seemed to be, to me, the biggest pine tree ever. There was a large back yard with an old barn all the way in the back. Next to the barn was a small garden that had grapes. I remember the grapes specifically beacuse I know I got stung a few times by bee's while picking them. Just past the grape vines was what we always thought was an electric fence. I don't know if it was really electrified, or if that was just something my mom told me to keep me away from the pair of Doberman Pinschers. As you can imagine, I was not allowed to go near that fence.
Because we also had such a large yard I always had all kinds of pets. We had an outside female cat named Scott. It seemed like every other month Scott was pregnant again and we had to find homes for another litter of her kittens. One time I got to keep two of the kittens. We named them Butterscotch and Socks. Unfortunatly Butterscotch was hit by a car on the street in front of the house, and Socks was accidently run over in our driveway by our renter. We eventually got rid of that cat after she had one too many litters for my mom to handle. I also remember we had a male terrier dog named Ashley. I don't remember too much about that dog except that he died one night after a really bad thunderstorm. He was left outside and got scared and tangled himself up in his chain. We were trapped because of the storm at my Grandma Cotton's house and couldn't get home to him in time. My last dog in that house was a Black Lab I named Princess. We had for a few years until we moved to our new house and we had to get rid of her because she was an outside dog and barked too much for our new neighbors.
Because we also had such a large yard I always had all kinds of pets. We had an outside female cat named Scott. It seemed like every other month Scott was pregnant again and we had to find homes for another litter of her kittens. One time I got to keep two of the kittens. We named them Butterscotch and Socks. Unfortunatly Butterscotch was hit by a car on the street in front of the house, and Socks was accidently run over in our driveway by our renter. We eventually got rid of that cat after she had one too many litters for my mom to handle. I also remember we had a male terrier dog named Ashley. I don't remember too much about that dog except that he died one night after a really bad thunderstorm. He was left outside and got scared and tangled himself up in his chain. We were trapped because of the storm at my Grandma Cotton's house and couldn't get home to him in time. My last dog in that house was a Black Lab I named Princess. We had for a few years until we moved to our new house and we had to get rid of her because she was an outside dog and barked too much for our new neighbors.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
1984 - Early Aaron Information
I was born on June 27, 1984 at 6:33pm at Amherst Hospital in Amherst Ohio. My parents are Troy and Sue Ellen Dotson (Cotton). I am their eldest child, my younger sister Rachel Lynn was born 5 years later in 1989. My fathers parents are Roy and Jewel Dotson (both still alive at time of writing). My mothers parents were Ben and Gloria Cotton (Grandpa Ben passed away when I was 2 in 1986, and Grandma Gloria when I was 15 in 2000). My father has one brother, Keith, and one sister, Sabrina. My mother has 3 brothers, David, Paul, Joel, and one sister, Kathy. My cousins are (oldest to youngest): Matt, Lauren, Jewel, Sarah, Olivia, Bella and Allison.
The Cotton Family has lived in Northern Ohio since the early 1900's, and the Dotson's moved from Eastern Kentucky to Northern Ohio in the 1950's. Both of my parents and their siblings attended Amherst schools and all except for my Aunt Kathy lived near Amherst when I was little. My Aunt Kathy has lived in Northwestern Indiana my entire life, and worked as a librarian.
When I was born my dad worked as a manager at a local grocery store and my mother was a clerk and a fashion clothes store. We lived a house that was owned by my mother's family located in Lorain, Ohio. It was an old 2 story house that her great grandparents and aunt had lived in.The house was almost if not over 100 years old when I lived there. It had a big back yard and a big barn in the back yard. In the front yard stood a massive pine tree that could be seen from almost a mile away. To me, as a kid, that tree seemed like it was 1000 feet tall. That tree was cut down by the people who bought that house after we moved out in 1990.
The Cotton Family has lived in Northern Ohio since the early 1900's, and the Dotson's moved from Eastern Kentucky to Northern Ohio in the 1950's. Both of my parents and their siblings attended Amherst schools and all except for my Aunt Kathy lived near Amherst when I was little. My Aunt Kathy has lived in Northwestern Indiana my entire life, and worked as a librarian.
When I was born my dad worked as a manager at a local grocery store and my mother was a clerk and a fashion clothes store. We lived a house that was owned by my mother's family located in Lorain, Ohio. It was an old 2 story house that her great grandparents and aunt had lived in.The house was almost if not over 100 years old when I lived there. It had a big back yard and a big barn in the back yard. In the front yard stood a massive pine tree that could be seen from almost a mile away. To me, as a kid, that tree seemed like it was 1000 feet tall. That tree was cut down by the people who bought that house after we moved out in 1990.
My first 25 years
I have been trying to write for the past 6 months about my life so that my children and family can someday look back at my life. I tried writing with Microsoft word, changing my style or my methods a few times, but it never really worked out. So I have decided that since I have been writing a blog about my journey through fatherhood, I would try and keep a blog and track all of my stories this way. Hopefully I can keep up with this and get more than one thing wrote. I am going to be writing about the first 25 years of my life, and each blog will be a different memory from 1984 to 2009. I will also try to put a date to the blog so I can go back later on and compile them into some sort of book. Lets get started.
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