Continuing my sketchbook on early memories of moving to Laguna Beach, California.

My first summer living in Laguna, Main Beach, above, was one of my haunts, along with Sleepy Hollow and Woods Cove.  This was when we lived on Cliff Drive, had the Peace Corps volunteers coming to visit on weekends, and I had not yet met anyone through school.  I met them in September when I started Thurston Junior High.
When I was a girl I was known as Debbie Beck.

My first friends were all kids who were into pot,  which freaked my mom out. I don’t know how she knew.  They smoked under the old boardwalk, gone now.  Laguna was pretty laid back about it all.

From this POV I can understand it. Fortunately I hated (and still do) the feeling of hot smoke in my lungs so I was safe from that particular illegality.

I remember walking with Mom in downtown Laguna. We saw Timothy Leary, and she told me to stay away from him, because he was pushing LSD at the kids, which lead to a long discussion on LSD.

Within a few months a friend of mine and her little sister were left alone for a long weekend, and her eight-year-old little sister dropped acid.  She called me to ask for help.  Mom took her to the hospital and lied, saying she was her eight-year-old daughter.  At the time I had no idea what my Mom risked, but watching my friend’s little sister freak out left an indelible impression on me… It terrified me.

My mom was smart about talking
about drugs, and perhaps it was due to
mistakes she made with my older
brothers.  She did not tell me things that were not true.  She told me, simply, that
the drugs were illegal and might be dangerous.  She reiterated that did not
take them, and was responsible in her drinking because of her commitment
to me.  It all made sense.

She also reminded me we could not afford attorneys were I to get into trouble. 
Both she and my older brother were willing to answer questions without being too weird or grilling me about WHY I was asking or where I heard this or that; I felt safe asking. 
Pretty smart parenting, though there were times when she was strict.

Rather than forbidding me to see these friends,
I had to have them come to my house in order to hang with them outside of school. THAT rarely happened.
Still, I managed to get a boyfriend, Jeff Storm, who
hung out at Sleepy Hollow.  He lived up to his name. 
Jeff should have worried my mom big time —
big blue eyes, blonde hair, and he did drugs.  Trouble.
When I went to my first party with him I was offered ti stick and as I didn’t know what it was told them
I’d had enough, which was pretty clever.

When I asked my mom what ti stick was she had to find out.  No more parties with that crowd….

When I was entering 9th grade at the High School, she told me I had to choose. 
If I stayed with these friends then I was never going anywhere. 
Because of the change of school, now would be a good time to look for other friends,
so I’d have a normal social life in high school.  I did this by getting a new boyfriend
who rarely drank and was an athlete.  I stayed friends with two of my old friends,
but moved into a different circle and it was a very good thing…

Other posts in this series:

Laguna: Crystal Cove

Laguna: Overlook

Laguna: Cliff Drive

Laguna Beach 1950

Castle Pond at Laguna

Days of Yore: Laguna Beach

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Hahnemuhle Akademie Watercolor Paper Book, White Uniball Signo,
Platinum Carbon pen with Platinum Carbon ink waterproof cartridges,
 DS Primatek watercolors, and Daniel Smith Watercolors.

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 ©D. Katie Powell.
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