Twenty Years Ago Today...

I promised an explanation of my friend, Schwendy's nickname. To do that...we need to go way back. Twenty years ago today, I stepped off a pontoon boat and stepped on to Word of Life Island to spend the summer waitressing in their STC (Student Training Corp) program. I was a day later than everyone else who had arrived due to my cousin's wedding in New York, but headed up Cardiac Hill, past The White House and over to my home for the summer...Chatterbox.

Sorry for the lousy pictures. I'm not a tech geek and just took pictures of old pictures. I arrived in all my soon-to-be 15 year old glory...big bangs, pegged jeans, and all. Don't you just love the garbage bag aka curtain covering the window?

My best friend, Melissa was already there and soon I met Wendy, Coby, Karen, and April and together, that summer we quickly became known collectively on the Island as the Chatterbox Chicks. As it turned out, all six of us had the job of waitressing. Do you know how hard it is for 6 fifteen and sixteen year olds to get ready by 6:00 am every morning in a bathroom with one shower, one toilet, and two sinks?

We waitressed, we hung out together at the beach, we shared secrets, we sang, we danced, we laughed (so hard), we cried, we endlessly talked, we did everything together and we had one of the most memorable summers of my life. And Schwendy's nickname? At the time Wendy became known as Wendy Woman...then Wendy Kline-Dog...which some time over the years became Schwendy....which if the situations fits, is shortened to Schwen.

Some of my favorite memories of that summer...

1. Buying all six of those Cleveland Browns jerseys in Glens Falls and wearing them all over the place for our Island fashion shoot.

2. The pizza party followed by sleeping out in the dining hall (on the tables...not so comfortable) after the program guys chased all the bats out with brooms. Yep...really.

3. STC Beach parties

4. The night we risked leg and limb to hike to the CIT lean-to camp out only to find campers there so we roughed it by sleeping on the tennis courts.

5. Not having enough sleeping bags for our camp outs so we borrowed some from the guys in Alpine Lodge making sure that we sufficiently sprayed them with lots of perfume before giving them back. We were so fifteen.

6. Finding fabulous dresses on our day off trips to Glens Falls and dressing up for our hot dates at the STC Banquet at the end of the summer and wowing all the STC'ers with our rendition of The Family Feud- Waitress Style.

7. Fields of wild flowers and other fun topics of conversation which became universally known as Chatterbox Chicks Chats...

8. Ripping up bed sheets to create "grass skirts" to put on for the Island laua.

9. Going out on the Food Service pontoon boat on the 4th of July to see the fireworks over Schroon Lake and eating Bill's incredible Baked Alaska.

10. Having Greg Lewis convert us to Uncle Benism and vowing to only eat converted rice.

11. Our songs: When the moon hits your eye...Born to be wild...Wild Thing...I went to the Snak Shak and who did I see...If you want my...Son de Mais, Son de Mais, we eat it everyday, it tastes like corn and hay...etc

12. All the waitresses camping out one night on the beach and getting hosed with freezing water by the lifeguard and boat guys with the fire hose in the middle of the night.

13. Ho Goldie, my dog.

14. The time Bill Schake made his chef hat look like the pope's hat and we crossed out the word pope to make poop and referred to him as Poop Schake for weeks. Yes...we were still fifteen.

15. All the waitresses, dishpit, and Greg Lewis going over to the Inn to work their STC banquet and then while all dressed up, we grabbed hands and did the "Nestea Plunge" off of the Inn dock into Schroon Lake. That was a cold boat ride back to the island.

So, here's to Melissa (Mulder) Austerman, Coby (Emmil) Mercaldo, April Pescatello, me, Karen Polomski, and Wendy (Kline) Bergland...The Word of Life Island Chatterbox Chicks of 1989.