On The Boardwalk (GIRLS)
As
previously mentioned, the boardwalks on the Jersey Shore are full of games and
rides. They were super fun for young
boys, until the age of around 13 when interest turned to girls.
The boardwalk
was the perfect training ground for learning the boy girl romance dance, though
clearly I never learned many steps.
Anyway.
At the shore
the girls you meet are never from your home town, often not from the same
state. The participants in the dance are
only around for a week or less, and age is not important, everyone lies about
their age. If (when) you make a
fool of yourself, there is no damage, you will never see the person you just embarrassed
yourself with again.
Mostly this
experience was all about posturing. Put
on your best cool duds, primp your hair, slap on way too much “English Leather,”
hang around the rides, and wait. We
waited a lot. The thrill was in the
expectation. Easy anonymous girls
looking for fun…we would find out what those condoms that every boy carried in
his wallet were for.
Unfortunately
most of us never got passed the preening.
We never thought to actually approach a girl; we expected they would come
to us. I do remember one night when my
friend and I magically “hooked up" with two really cute young ladies (at the
shore, all the girls are really cute.)
We chatted for a few minutes but they had to go somewhere with their
parents. We would meet the next night at
the “Tilt-a-whirl” and finally move past the preening stage...the talking and
stuff stage!
The next
night my friend and I got dizzy from “Tilt-a-whirl” rides. Cute girls never showed up. Apparently they were practicing their hook up
skills and we were just an experiment. I
think that is as close to a random pick-up as I have ever gotten.
Years later
I learned the real art to meeting girls on the boardwalk from my 13 year old son and his best friend.
We rented a
house by a boardwalk. I could watch my own
young son and his friend learn the dance.
While others simply preened and waited, these lads did the unexpected…they
actually went up to the girls as they walked by and introduced
themselves. I watched them time after time talking with and walking away with cute young girls. It seems that the young ladies parading the
boardwalk are all hoping for anyone to approach them!
Who knew?
I believe these young players arranged meetings with several of the girls they met with their unique method of actually talking. I don’t think any of these meetings ever actually occurred.
Who knew?
I believe these young players arranged meetings with several of the girls they met with their unique method of actually talking. I don’t think any of these meetings ever actually occurred.
Some things
never change.
This made me laugh out loud. :) I think of you as this super cool dude and then you write this. Hahaha. The important thing is, that eventually, you got it right, right? ;)
ReplyDeleteYeah, after 3 marriages!!
DeleteI wish I'd learned more about the boy-girl romance dance. From the age of 12 all I ever got were offers to "go for a ride" from older boys with cars that only had eyes for my boobs. I must have said NO a million times.
ReplyDeleteThe learning was hard, wasn't it? When I was young approaches had to be made in cinemas. We didn't have freedom of movement like modern youth have.
ReplyDeleteWhat was fun was watching my #2 Son learn this dance at Disney World. Yes, he would actually meet up with girls at the rides. He played the game well, as did my youngest brother. Two peas in a pod, they are.
ReplyDeleteWell, it's good go hear there is some innocence left in the world!
ReplyDeleteBut it is a good learning experience and part of growing up.
ReplyDeleteHmm. Now I always thought that English Leather was designed specifically to be a dual repellent -- mosquito and girl.
ReplyDeleteI always wondered why so few of the guys talked. Now I know it wasn't me. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWhat a delightful post. I remember those days. We were just as awkward as you boys where. It was still a dance that we never quite finished for a very long time.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day Joe. ☺
A rite of passage we all go through. Well, most of us, anyway.
ReplyDeleteThose girls wanted a safe long-distance boyfriend to dream about like David Cassidy on a wall poster. You guys just wanted to work in (heh, heh) a little condom practice.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't very good at that age either....actually, I've never been very good:) How I landed a good looking wife is a mystery to me :)
ReplyDeleteGood thing we grow out of that awkward stage, otherwise we wouldn't be looking at over 7 Billion people living on this earth!
ReplyDelete