Of course I was the perfect teenager who never caused any trouble. My Dad helped me buy a car at 16 yrs old & I had a job at the local grocery store. I went to high school at small rural school, so the "big city" was not influencing me much....until my Dad got a CB radio...yes I fell quickly then!
In 1974 or so the Citizen Band Radio was all the rage! For those of you who were born after 1985, you may not remember CB's, but you had to pick the equivalent of a twitter name. We called it a "handle". that was the name you went by on the CB radio. I thought of lots of names, discussed it with all my naive friends & someone suggested"Shady Lady" for me! A boy I liked told me it just meant I liked to sit in the shade......... I fell for that one hook, line & sinker! What were my parents thinking, they wouldn't even let me wear pants or shorts!!!
So Shady Lady started modulating on the radio..tweeting in today's lingo. We had a base station in our home & my dad had a mobile CB in his car. I wanted a car & a mobile CB so I could drive around and talk on the radio to my friends. Didn't have a car or a mobile, so I settle for Dad's base station. The only problem with a CB radio was anyone & everyone could hear your conversations. There were different channels but it was easy to find people talking on other channels. Eavesdropping paradise!
One night "Shady Lady" was up at 1am talking on the CB to a boy...school was the next day & I lost track of time. My Dad just happen to be coming home from work that night earlier than I expected & he heard me talking. I heard a sound that made me want to crawl under the table. The sound the mic on Dad's CB made was a very recognizable bing. The next thing I heard was "Shady Lady you better be in the bed asleep by the time I get home" The sound of my Dad's voice when he took that tone would sends shivers down my spine...I went to bed & faked being asleep! He never had to do anything but speak to me!
On January 5th 1977 I was driving home from church on a Wednesday night. Of course I was on the CB radio being my ever talkative self. I was talking to several friends & a new voice broke in. Now CB etiquette required a new person to say who they were..well this person said "General"....Another friend told me..that was his really good friend, nice guy "he's okay".
Only picture I have of the bug car! Of course it was after our wedding!
When I pulled in a strange car pulled up, now by strange I don't mean unfamiliar..I mean strange. A 1971 El Camino with 108 inch long antenna's on both sides of the car, right behind the cab. Looked like a demented bug sitting there. This strange guy hopped out & came up to my car. He stuck his head in my car window & said "nice interior". I looked at him like he was an alien! He removed his head from my 1971 Dodge Challenger right before I punched him!
He got my phone number from his friend, called me that night & told me he was going to marry me one day! I couldn't stand him, so full of himself thinking I would marry him....we celebrated 34 years of marriage last Saturday!
Thank God for the CB radio...although social media has changed over the last 30+ years, true love has not.
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