Bethany Beach

That was the place I got into my first teenage trouble. I was 16 years old. I had my first kiss, my first joint and my first taste of running around partying with "the big dogs." We were on a family vacation with our family, my great uncle's family and my aunt's family. We had a huge beach house right on the beach and our parents were busy having their own fun and we had free run of the beach.

My first kiss was with a Maryland State football player. He was blonde and he was huge. I believe I kept my eyes open because I remember looking at the stars. (hehe) When one of his more responsible friends saw us together he spent the evening making sure he kept us apart. That was probably a good move.

Another night my cousin **** talked me into trying my first joint. We smoked it under the boardwalk with some beach waif that she was hanging with. I was tagging along with her like I always did. My little sister was there as well. (I feel bad about that part - she was too young to watch her big sis smoke pot) At first I thought it wasn't doing anything and the next thing I knew I was on my knees trying to crawl up my cousin (to stand up). I was completely stoned.

We went home and my sister immediately announced to all the adults including my parents that I was drunk. I started to sing, "how dry I am," (the old drunk song I had watched my granny use for her Lucille Ball impersonation a million times). When I did that everybody just thought my sister and I were clowning and we all retired to the bedroom to sleep it off.

The next day I told my cousin I didn't want to ever smoke pot again and she was fine with that. However as soon as we ran into more reefer I didn't hesitate. She gets no blame for my actions. She was just the magnet to get me into trouble, that's all.

We spent glorious days on the beach playing in the sun and surf and sand. We spent our nights hunting for trouble (Jersey Shore style) and we had no trouble finding it. We had a nicoboli from Nicola's Restaurant. These were what are known as calzones now.

I remember an uncle of mine commenting that, "Pam has an ass like a freight train," one day when I was walking away from the beachhouse in my swimsuit to go to the beach. I thought it was innappropriate then and I still do today.

Then we went home and I resumed my life as a bookworm. All my friends were amazed that I had behaved in such a manner. The only time I ever acted that way was when my cousin or my youngest aunt came to visit. Other than that I was a model child until I left for college.

All my high school friends were just as afraid to getting into trouble as I was. In fact I never skipped a day of school in my life. One time we all planned to skip together (as seniors) but when the day came none of them would do it. That was probably smart because if all 13 of us would have skipped the same day it would have been a definite tip off to our teachers.