The hot and humid weather has changed just enough to give Meridianites a promise of frost on the pumpkin, and a chill in the air; football games are in motion as the high school bands play, and the girls dress in their new fall wardrobe assemblies.

With these thoughts in mind I recently dug through an old closet to pull out my red poodle skirt, and saddle oxfords. Yes I still have them! Everything is the same, everything, but the size 8 of the skirt. Something has expanded just a tiny bit. Oh, hush!

I even found my husband’s Meridian High Band jacket, and his old black tux. The tux was needed when he played with a Benny-Goodman-type-band back in the 1960’s. The band was known as The Continentals V, you might remember them. For high school instrumentalists to take on the image of swing music during the era of Elvis and Beatle rampages was unique, and down right courageous! But the guys played with all of the gusto of the 1940’s time of music with excitement and great expectations. For quiet a while their gigs crowded their calendars, and put a few coins in their pockets. Especially in 1960 when the group won the Miss America Talent Contest conducted at Meridian High School for a sell-out presentation. Those were the days!

Just last year we bought a brand, spanking, new, and shiny baritone sax for him. He had not played in many, many years “too many to even calculate, but once the horn melted in his hands” well, there was no stopping him. And now our little granddaughter, McKenzie, says, “Pe Paw, blow your horn!” What a thrill!

During the 1960’s there would be a dance on Friday nights after the Meridian High School football games. Sometimes my husband played in the band, and sometimes he just went to the dance with me, then later, we would go to Weidmanns or The Davis Grill for veal cutlets with gravy and french-fries (that would be at The Davis Grill) or black bottom pie at Weidmanns. Strange that with all of those calories I could still skinny into a size 8!

On one particular evening at Weidmanns I had worn my dyed-to-match wool sweater and skirt. I remember it was a beautiful shade of aqua; and I don’t even remember it scratching, not too much anyway.

We had ordered, and were sitting in the midst of a big “after-the-ballgame-crowd” when the waiter tripped and a full pitcher of icy, sweet tea landed in my lap! Not a problem; actually it felt rather nice because the weather was not exactly ready for a wool outfit even though it was a new “must-wear” regardless of the cooperation of the temperature.

The red poodle skirt was reserved for sock-hops, mainly at Northwest Junior High School or sometimes at The Teen Center, located where the Meridian Fire Station, Number One is today. The 45-RPM vinyl records supplied the music; there would be Bobby Darin, The Everley Brothers, The Platters, Gene Pitney, Roy Orbison, Fabian, Brenda Lee, Jerry Lee Lewis, and many others. At Northwest Junior High we would dance the night away, slipping and sliding across the shiny gym floor. After the dance, my best girlfriend, who lived near Northwest Junior High, and I would walk the couple of blocks to her house, with no fear or apprehension. The golden harvest moon would guide our way as we practiced our version of the Everley Brothers, “Wake up Little Susie, Wake Up!” We were pretty good … we thought, and who cares what anyone else thought?

There were times my girlfriends and I would have a spend-the-night-party after the football games. We would walk all over the neighborhoods of 23rd Avenue and 46th Street into the late hours of the night giggly and free-spirited, then return for peanuts and cokes, just enough, not too much. The music would start again on our little portable players, and the dance would continue, only this time just for girls, dressed in baby doll PJ’s as we sung every word and emphasized each note. I can hear it now, “Chantilly lace, and a pretty face, and a ponytail hanging down, a wiggle and a walk, a giggle and a talk, makes the world go round-d-d.”

The sweetness and innocence of the 1960’s will always bring a smile to my face. Oh, I know there were horrors out there, but we survived and in a mighty way as some of us are the first baby-boomers of our generation.

I have even heard a rumor that during the next 10 years the baby-boomers will take over the world. Well, I’m ready! So I’m thinking it’s a very good thing I kept the red poodle skirt, and Pe Paw has a new horn, it’s just that size 8 thingy that might be a problem … but maybe not!

Dedicated to my 1960’s Meridianite girlfriends: Sharon Curran Chatham; Betty Jo Knight Ables; Cecilia Ranager Jackson; Ann Creekmore Morgan; and Donna Moore.