California Girl

By all accounts, I had a great childhood. Growing up in Southern California has its perks... the sun shines 360 days out of the year and it's generally always 75 and beautiful. It's hell growing up in a postcard.

....it was the summer of '72 and my mother was young, tall, blond, and tan. After school she'd load up my friends and I and all of our beach gear her convertible while my dad was still at work and off we'd go. We'd all head to the beach before the sunset, homework could wait till later. Our beach of choice was often Huntington Beach, a long stretch of sand that didn't see a lot of sun-worshipers during the week. It was perfect for us. My frequent beach companions were two siblings who lived a few blocks away, Lois and Robert, their mother and mine were best friends. Our moms would sit at the beach, lathering on Coppertone sun oil and sharing the latest neighborhood gossip. When the sun started to dip into the water our moms would pack us up and head home. The sand would stick to me till I got to the house and my mom shuttled me into a warm tub of water to wash it off. Often I'd take whatever treasure I'd found that day, a rock, a shell, and sometimes a washed up trinket that I pretended was from a long-lost buried treasure, washed ashore and certainly worth a fortune....yeah, being a California Girl was a great thing...

Somehow despite the distractions of beaches, sand and surf I managed to get through school. The beach bum life was just a part of who we were, growing up in the '70's in California when life was uncomplicated and easy. I miss the summers with my friends before we worried about things like polluted beaches and skin cancer. It was a great life, I was a lucky girl.

...now as I head off to another coast I have to wonder? Can a former beach bum make it in the big city? I guess we're about to find out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2CyQ7Eslg4