Mornin' Redd!
Very cool! My Dad was a country musician too! He had me playing guitar in his band CME (the Country Music Express) when I was just 11. We played all of the VFW's, Elks Lodges, Moose Lodges, etc.. throughout Florida. I can remember coming home after the shows with two or three different shades of lipstick on my forehead and cheeks from older, slightly drunken ladies giving me the "Ooo...aint he cute" treatment.
My most memorable gig with Dad was at a tiny restaurant/bar called "The Chicken Box" waaaay out in the Fl. swamps. It was a few days before Christmas. I was 13 then and actually had my first real taste of beer. I kept sneaking it into a coffee cup, from the Band's pitcher!
There was a large "CB Club" there that night and CB Radio was VERY popular here at the time. This is where I met my first "girlfriend". Her Fathers CB "handle" was Papa Squirrel and she was of course.... "Baby Squirrel".
Her real name was Tina. She was 12, lovely dark brown eyes and hair and very shy. She watched me and smiled at me all through the show. She told me that she talked on her Dad's CB radio often and believe it or not...her family had no phone! They used CB's to communicate with family and friends. We ended up holding hands and talking as my Dad and Uncle glared at me for not helping load the equipment!
At the end of the night she gave me a little shy kiss on the cheek....and rode off through the swamp roads with her parents....and I immediately became heartbroken. How was I going to talk to my "Baby Squirrel"?
We had no CB's of any kind at my home, which was about 80 miles from where she lived. My Dad would give me $5 after every show we played and my Mom gave me a $2 allowance each Friday for doing chores. Time to save for a CB radio!!! BUT...by the time I got a radio, the antenna and learned to use it....she nor her Dad was anywhere to be found on the airwaves, which was quite odd. My world was shattered at that point... I heard "through the grapevine" the her family moved to North Dakota. For several months...I would scan the airwaves each night for about an hour before bed, to see if I could hear her voice...but to no avail.
Of course, time goes on and you meet new people, etc...and a few years later I sold my CB radio so I could get a new amp for my guitar. But still to this day I can remember her and the perfume she was wearing that smelled like roses and bubblegum mixed...
Funny thing is....I could SWEAR I ran into her again when I was in my early twenties at a Winn Dixie store. Our eyes met at the checkout line with that "I think I know you from somewhere" blank stare to it. But she wore a wedding band and had a little baby with her...so I pursued it no further. And as she left the store...I smelled rose scented perfume. And I swear I still smelled it that night as I drifted to sleep.
Well...there's my Holiday memory. Excuse me as I go wipe the tears off my cheek!
Bri
