Bad to the bone

Or maybe I was just bad to the fingernail...of my little finger. My freshman year of high school, Mom got it into her head that I needed to experience college life - I needed to go stay with Cindo who was a freshman at Drake University.

So one Friday when Mom had a Iowa Hospital Association meeting in Des Moines, she dropped me off at Drake University. I even went to a class with Cindy (boring...) Her roomie was gone (strange girl who only wore bib overalls), so Cindy had a party in her room - the drinking age was 19? back then, but I was...15.

Cindy was dating a very cute guy named Doug Mustoe. They took me to a John Denver concert - not sure where. It was when "Thank God I'm a County Boy" was popular. Yep, I know, I got to see all the good singers. My folks took Bets and me to the Carpenters at the Iowa State Fair one year too.

Then next night was party time. We played Chug-A-Lug - the drinking board game and I drank few beers. It was the first time I ever got tipsy. I remember being so surprised at how much one had to pee when imbibing in brewskis. And I recall (this was 1972) that Cindy had that hunky poster of Mark Spitz in his swim suit with all his Olympic medals on his chest. Yum.

Cindy got me a fake ID. It was her friend's license. Back then - a license was just a piece of safety paper with your description printed on it. So I quickly memorized who I was. We went to Peggy's - a Drake hot spot. My first bar!

I don't think Cindy let me drink too much - I don't recall puking or being hung over or anything. So that was a nicely supervised first drinking experience! My big sis - always looking out for me. (just like when she told me - "sex is fun - don't wait to have it!")