The 60s ~ A Time in My Life

I guess the 60s started for me when the Beatles crossed the Atlantic. I remember being excited that they were going to be in Dallas and begging my parents to take me to see them. I remember hearing about a rock concert being held near a lake close to Norman, OK where the University of Oklahoma was. At that time I was using my mother's car and so the Saturday when the rock concert was supposed to be held..... I drove to Lake Norman to see the bands play. I heard about four songs before driving back to Shawnee, hoping I wouldn't be missed. From there, my first record I bought in the late -1960s was recorded by the Strawberry Alarm Clock, playing Incense and Peppermints.

There were a group of girls that were suitemates of mine in the dorm that I hung out with and had fun with while flirting with guys at the Statesman in Edmond, Oklahoma in 1969. I don't remember the classes but I remember the good times; and there were alot of them. I was way too young back then to make any grown up decisions about college. There were alot of emotional needs that needed filling and that's pretty much what I was about during those days. The subtle message that I got was to meet a successful man in college and get married. These were the late 60s and this was the idea that most girls had going to college during that time.

In college I'd listen to Rod McKuen lps with friends. There was a San Souci sorority 45rpm recording going around and I got a copy of it; it was a pretty wild recording. In my first semester at college, there was a panty raid in our dormitory (girls dormitory) at TJC. That was known as really wanton back in those days. Most of the girls I knew from my first year at TJC were from my dorm. I really didn't start dating until my second year in college. I had never had an alcoholic beverage until my third year in college. Most of the girls in TJC were from Orange, Houston and near Dallas.

In TJC I had been late coming back in from a mixer and during that time, the deadline for dormitory lockout was 9:30 pm. At Central State, I went with a group of people down to Padre Island one long weekend in winter. My suitemate came with us. She and I had a great time at Padre Island with the people we met from a Navy ship that was docked at Padre Island - having cookouts and beach parties.

Jimi Hendrix
Strawberry Alarm Clock
The Doors
Eric Burdon
Crosby Stills & Nash
Guess Who

Even at this stage of my life, I still feel that energy of that time listening to the hits from the 1960s. It doesn't seem like all that much time has passed; but it has of course. Not having children to mark time by so to speak; time passes and I still feel like a young woman though alot wiser.

It was an exciting time to be alive.