I fly into Miami to the fabulous house in Kendall for a visit. It was the trophy of the family and the symbol of success – A big pool with a Chattahoochee lanai and a screened in porch; a living room and dining room, we almost never used, and a family room off the kitchen that was used every day. Everyone ate at the small Formica kitchen peninsula with the orange pattern. The house had an intercom and built in radio with speakers in the walls, circular driveway and a riding lawn mower. We were in high cotton.
Bernie, Betty, and I decide to go out for the evening to Coconut Grove. It is THE nightlife spot. We dress up in typical 80’s style with our long, overblown mall hair. Our first stop is Fat Tuesdays for frozen, spicily named, overly sweet, potent drinks. We try many tropical flavors and, once the alcohol intelligence kicks in, we decide that the cheap, hard, plastic cups with cheery designs are exactly the fancy cupware we’ve been looking for all our 20something lives. It complements our nonexistent china pattern so perfectly. We simply can’t drink enough to get a suite for each of us so we nominate Betty to grab a few from the cup towers by the bar. She has to make several trips. We are very giggly and cute and guys start to notice. A brave one breaks from the pack and throws out his best pick up line, “so, what song is going through your head right now?” We are a bit stunned at this unusual approach and I blurt out the first song to come to mind, “Oh, Me So Horny” which was a very popular, albeit somewhat controversial, song by 2 Live Crew at the time. I won’t even mention the name of the album. I don’t know what reaction I was expecting but I was definitely not expecting the dude to scurry away, which is exactly what he did; embarrassedly hurrying away at road runner speed. We laughed and laughed, joking that, “all we saw was his dust” haha. His group did not bother us again. To commemorate the night we even buy the overpriced key chains from the roving Fat Tuesday’s photographer. It’s a great picture, all youth and hugs and smiles.
On to the dancing at Senior Frogs where we dance to all the 80’s tunes – Pump up the Jam, Push it, Wild Thing, Thriller, It’s Raining Men, Relax, Conga; we had all the dance moves. Bernie had her shoulder shake, Betty did her rock and I danced like no one was watching. I don’t remember if anyone asked us to dance, maybe our reputation preceded us.
Now, the best place to go to eat at the early hours of the morning after drinking and dancing and drinking in 1987 was Miami Subs. For a modest $5 they had the best sandwiches and French fries with a variety for all tastes. They had awesome cheesesteaks which tasted even better at 2am. After we gorged, Bernie drove us home. I have no memory of getting home. I think Fat Tuesday’s finally kicked in. We woke up the next morning with $20 keychains and a stack of cups. Betty woke up to the same but the $15 spending money she went out with was now $17.
unbecomingjane 