I was 27, and we partied. Not “just like it was 1999”, it really was 1999. We were on the precipice of something epic, and the world was only just beginning to spin out of control. All of us, trainwrecks and grateful for the lack of photographic evidence of a misspent youth. The memories faded and are lost to time, but when nostalgia knocks, it feels like perhaps it was all just a dream within a dream. I’d love to stumble across a picture or two of me engaging in behavior that led me to believe I would live forever or die in that moment. I was fucking fearless, I was brilliant, beautiful and wild. I wanted to do everything that sounded like a good time, and most often was a bad idea. I wasn’t well behaved, I didn’t know then that they’d all become stories so surreal that they would rival fiction.
I was a Mom of two perfect healthy kids, a wife, a homeowner, a badass and a boss. A normal every day woman balancing quite the charmed little life. I kickboxed, swam, ran and rode my bike everywhere. I drove a 67 mustang and climbed in through the windows, when the doors would stick. My grandparents were alive and my heart still had a racing pulse.
On the weekends we got a sitter or a grandparent to watch the kids and then dropped acid or rolled on MDMA. We sank or swim for $5 and partied in clubs where men and women danced in cages and watched drag shows in back rooms. We fucked furiously in bathrooms and did lines off bathroom sinks. We dripped sweat dancing all night and raged in mosh pits as our favorite metal bands wailed at concerts the next night. Singing karaoke, playing darts, hustling pool halls and working import beer stands at the bucs football games raising money or doing car washes so our kids could go to international tournaments for tae kwon do. Converting our garage into a virtual club, where the gamers played Mortal Kombat, NHL, NFL 2, and Legend of Zelda, we had black lights, couches, big stereos and all kinds of parties for football, hockey and every holiday we could celebrate. We never stood still. If we weren’t taking our kids to Old Towne or the beach or amusement parks and to the pool, we had friends over and family, while we cooked and grilled tons of food and all the kids played in the street that we blocked off so they could ride their bikes everywhere. We jumped on our trampoline and got fucked up in our jacuzzi and sunbathed naked in the backyard. We knew how to have fun and when we didn’t party we hit up game rooms, raced go karts and hit the batting cages. It was endless fun and the world was about to end. We didn’t care. We weren’t tied down to cell phones or computers, we actually lived. We were reckless but without addiction and without paralyzing anxiety. We faced every fear we had and stared it down until it crumbled beneath us. The world wasn’t our oyster it was our buffet and we knew it was the last breath of innocence before everything changed. We didn’t care who you were fucking or the color of your skin, everything was offensive but no one was offended, we only cared if you were an asshole or brought drama. We weren’t reserved, we weren’t our parents - we were going to fuck shit up with a whole other attitude.
We rode in the back of pickup trucks and hung out of sun roofs, we drove our cars on the beach and skinny dipped at night. We pulled the emergency brake while hauling ass in the rain, just to spin out. It was abandon, we didn’t hurt anyone, in fact we cared about each other. We supported each other at softball games, baseball and basketball games or anything that required our presence. We dressed up to go out and had themed parties. We made going into 2000 more than Beautiful. We were unstoppable until we weren’t. We flirted with danger and rode jet skis like we were Lara Croft. We collected comics and read endlessly under the stars. We stole beer kegs and dined and dashed at 4am.
I was a Mom of two perfect healthy kids, a wife, a homeowner, a badass and a boss. A normal every day woman balancing quite the charmed little life. I kickboxed, swam, ran and rode my bike everywhere. I drove a 67 mustang and climbed in through the windows, when the doors would stick. My grandparents were alive and my heart still had a racing pulse.
On the weekends we got a sitter or a grandparent to watch the kids and then dropped acid or rolled on MDMA. We sank or swim for $5 and partied in clubs where men and women danced in cages and watched drag shows in back rooms. We fucked furiously in bathrooms and did lines off bathroom sinks. We dripped sweat dancing all night and raged in mosh pits as our favorite metal bands wailed at concerts the next night. Singing karaoke, playing darts, hustling pool halls and working import beer stands at the bucs football games raising money or doing car washes so our kids could go to international tournaments for tae kwon do. Converting our garage into a virtual club, where the gamers played Mortal Kombat, NHL, NFL 2, and Legend of Zelda, we had black lights, couches, big stereos and all kinds of parties for football, hockey and every holiday we could celebrate. We never stood still. If we weren’t taking our kids to Old Towne or the beach or amusement parks and to the pool, we had friends over and family, while we cooked and grilled tons of food and all the kids played in the street that we blocked off so they could ride their bikes everywhere. We jumped on our trampoline and got fucked up in our jacuzzi and sunbathed naked in the backyard. We knew how to have fun and when we didn’t party we hit up game rooms, raced go karts and hit the batting cages. It was endless fun and the world was about to end. We didn’t care. We weren’t tied down to cell phones or computers, we actually lived. We were reckless but without addiction and without paralyzing anxiety. We faced every fear we had and stared it down until it crumbled beneath us. The world wasn’t our oyster it was our buffet and we knew it was the last breath of innocence before everything changed. We didn’t care who you were fucking or the color of your skin, everything was offensive but no one was offended, we only cared if you were an asshole or brought drama. We weren’t reserved, we weren’t our parents - we were going to fuck shit up with a whole other attitude.
We rode in the back of pickup trucks and hung out of sun roofs, we drove our cars on the beach and skinny dipped at night. We pulled the emergency brake while hauling ass in the rain, just to spin out. It was abandon, we didn’t hurt anyone, in fact we cared about each other. We supported each other at softball games, baseball and basketball games or anything that required our presence. We dressed up to go out and had themed parties. We made going into 2000 more than Beautiful. We were unstoppable until we weren’t. We flirted with danger and rode jet skis like we were Lara Croft. We collected comics and read endlessly under the stars. We stole beer kegs and dined and dashed at 4am.
We were shameless and yet we still had humility and manners. We were paradoxically everything that we aren’t allowed to be now.
We were wild and it was the time of our lives.
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