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Greetings and Happy Fall!
I will be celebrating 77 years on this beautiful planet on Monday October 2nd. It has been an amazing challenging experience so far and I look forward to many more, although I wish the "challenges" would subside a bit. I'm going to share some of "my story", (albeit a somewhat self-indulgent survival story) as a female member of the iconic "Baby Boomer" generation.
Thought: When you take chances in Life (and you should) weigh the odds carefully but do it quickly so you don't miss the moment. I've been about 80% successful in solving my life's problems / challenges while having fun along the way.
In the early years: I was an only child, a late bloomer, confused, shy coming of age in my sophomore year in Keyport HS (Jersey Shore). Found my niche; athletics: basketball & gymnastics and marching band (Head Majorette), got good grades, went to proms. Graduated in 1964 with a scholarship to Monmouth College (Monmouth University) in West Long Branch, NJ majoring in History. After freshman year I left home and moved to West Long Branch. College was freedom: I blossomed, joined a sorority, (got "Pinned", got "Unpinned") was popular (voted "Campus Cutie") went on Spring Break to Fort Lauderdale every year and partied. Embracing the vibe at the Jersey Shore, I was a bartender / manager at top rock clubs in Asbury Park, "The Student Prince", "The Pandemonium". I survived "Woodstock" in '69, got inspired and started booking bands. I joined Bruce Springsteen's management team and we booked "Child" as an opening act for the James Cotton's Blues Band at "The Pandemonium".
The late 60's early 70's were crazy, crazy, crazy: lots of music, romance and drugs. Got busted for pot and ended up on the front page of the Asbury Park Press. Dropped acid, became known as "The Acid Queen of Asbury Park". EEEK! I survived by learning lessons from very scary mistakes. One was accidentally overdosing on barbiturates at a party with new "friends". I slept for over 24 hours, my roommates were horrified. I learned how to "manage" doing drugs and learned a lot about myself, especially while experiencing Mescaline, Psilocybin and LSD. In 1970 after a couple of years of "burn out" in the Jersey nightclub scene, my partner, Ike and I left Asbury in an old Volkswagen bus and headed for Ormond Beach, Florida. We parked in a friend's yard who attended Emory Riddle Aeronautical University, a flight school in Daytona Beach. Yes! It was 13 months of heaven collecting unemployment, riding bikes and partying in Daytona Beach. Got addicted to a boy with an endless supply of blue Morphine tabs and had to be relocated by my friends to Fort Lauderdale and Coconut Grove to recover. In 1971, Ike, me and a friend, Diana, drove the VW bus to Key West, slept in the bus and fell in love with that town. Got my ear pierced on a pool table in Sloppy Joes by a dude named Marcus Hook ("Captain Hook") using a needle, whiskey and a cork while "Me and Bobby McGee" played on the jukebox. Jimmy Buffet was in town then (miss him). Vowed I would return.
To be continued... Patricia Ripley
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