I remember hearing often growing up that we are no better then the company we keep. Something that my mom tried to instill in me quite well. Of course I got into a lot of trouble growing up and she was the type of parent that believed that it had to be my friends that were the troublemakers. They were influencing me. They were my bad company that I kept.
I think she had to believe that for the reason that if she admitted that it was me that was actually the influencer, the bad company of others….. that would mean she had gone wrong in her parenting skills some how. And if you knew my mom, how she is always perfect and right, then you would know that she couldn’t even come close to believing such a thing.
But the fact was that I was the brains behind the many operations of trouble that I found myself in growing up. I never quite had the guts to pull them off on my own, but never seemed to have a lack of company that thought my ideas were great, and just happened to be stock full of the guts that I didn’t have.
One of the greatest adventures of trouble that I found myself in was when I was 16years old. My best friend was Debi. Her and I had met in 9th grade and hated each other at first. As time went on, a few conversations and such, we realized that we actually had a lot of similar likes and started hanging out. And by 10th grade we were inseparable best friends.
Debi lived at home with her mom, step-dad, and little brother. Her mom didn’t seem to be as rough around the ridges as my mother was so most sleep over’s were held at her house. Never did see much of her step-dad while I was there but heard the many stories of his endless passes at Debi. Something that her mother knew about but chose to overlook. Luckily he had never touched her……. but made it clear that he wanted too. (Asshole)
It was something she wanted to escape from. And I being the habitual runaway that I was, was always up for any type of escape from my overbearing, LDS pushing Mother. So it was something we talked about often. A dream of sorts. One of the many dreams we shared together. Another dream that was in full swing at that time was Bon Jovi.
Jon Bon Jovi was the love of my life at that time. I was and still am a dreamer. The type of dreamer that believed that ANYTHING was possible. That anything just happened to be that I was going to marry that man. I figured that I would find a way to meet him and he would just fall so in love with me at first sight that he would marry me in a heartbeat. Of course Debi was in love with Richie Sambora the guitarist of Bon Jovi. So it only made sense that she would marry him and we would all be the bestest of friends. (Yes…. I was insane. I blame my mother!)
The day we found out that Bon Jovi was coming in concert made it all seem more real. It was time to put our plan in action. To get tickets, find an escape from out horrid lives, meet our dream men, and live happily ever after. The tickets were an easy score, my bday was coming up and I knew that my mother would get them for me. Which she did. Now how do we get out of town. Bon Jovi is from Trenton, New Jersey. Only made sense that we would have to go there. But with no money or car……
Debi’s grandmother getting up there in age and not being able to take care of herself, moved in. She had a Chevy Citation that ran but she wasn’t able to drive anymore due to her health. So it sat in the driveway collecting dust. We figured that would be the best thing to take. I of course knew that the police would be after us and that we would have to find away to alter it’s appearance. So after discussion and some big purses we made our way to Kmart to 5 finger discount about 15 cans of black spray paint. Yes we did walk out of that store with them in our big bulging purses. And yes I was amazed too.
Everything was going as planned. Now had the tickets, a vehicle, and a way to modify the evidence…… life was good. Until we stopped at a convenience store on the way back to school. See we were sluffing school and needed to stop to call the school. She would call saying she was my mom and that I was sick that day and vice versa. Yes we got away with that too. Well as smart as we thought we were, we never realized that we left the purse with the cans of spray paint, by the payphone. Or at least not till we got back to her house. We trekked back, but they were gone. We figured we were going to have to let that part of our plan go. Might get away with it once but twice…. that’s pushing it.
We spent the couple of weeks before the concert planning it all out to a tee. Every little thing. We were going to take fishing poles to stop and fish for food. I took a pan and oil too. All my camping skills would be put to use. The only thing we were taking that I wasn’t so sure about was her cat. But she had to take her…… fine. The plan was made. But we needed money. We had told our group of friends at our school what we were up to and they took up a money donation in our honor. The day we left they handed us $30 that they had all chipped in on. You have to admit that I had a pretty good group of friends in HS. lol
The Bon Jovi concert was amazing. Debi and I had a blast. We even were standing on the corner as his limo drove by. And they waved at us. Of course that was another validation for the both of us that we could have that. We walked over to the Red Lion Hotel where we saw the limo go. We knew we wouldn’t be allowed in the Hotel so we opted to stand outside the hotel on the side and yell up the building, how much we loved them and such…… just hoping we had the right side. Honestly we didn’t care, we were having so much fun.
The saddest news came the next day. I had found out that Jon Bon Jovi had ran to Las Vegas before the concert and married his childhood sweetheart. But I was not deterred. I still figured I had a chance. Or maybe I just really wanted away from my mom that bad. Though years later I think I realized that it was more about being with Debi…… but that’s another story for another day.
I’m not sure how long after the concert it was before we left. But I know it was just a matter of days… maybe a few weeks. But I gathered up everything I couldn’t live without the night before while my mom was at work and ran it to my friend Mary’s house. She said she would hold it for me till the next day. The next morn I got up and went to school like it was just another day.
When I got to school, Debi was ready as well. She has packed everything into the car and we just had to go get it. We hugged and said goodbye to our friends. Took our $30 they gathered up and headed up to her house. We got everything in the car and then headed out. I drove because I knew how. Neither of us had a license though. But we just committed grand theft auto…. no dl was the least of our problems. We knew the police would be out to get us but we figured that it wouldn’t be till after her mom got home from work at 5pm. So we had a long time to get away. We planned to hide the car and ourselves during the day and drive at night. But first to get as far as we can till 5pm.
Bon Jovi was playing on the stereo of course. Living on a Prayer now meant more to us then we ever thought it would. We were both terrified because of what we were doing but also excited. We got to Rock Springs, WY and were running out of gas. We stopped and put in the last of our money from our generous friend donations. We had also filled up before we left Salt Lake. We learned that $30 doesn’t go far. We knew that we were going to have to do some gas runs at some time. It was going to be the only way.
It was now nearing 2 or 3pm and I still wanted to get as far as we could. Later we would pull off on one of the many dirt roads of Wyoming and sleep. On the Interstate we went. After some time I was getting thoroughly tired of driving and decided that at the next exit I would stop to get out and stretch. The next exit was Wamsutter. A name that will forever haunt me.
The town is made up of a cafe, a couple of buildings next to it, a trailer park behind it, and a mobile classroom type building off to the side. We would soon find out that building is the Sherriff's station.
Yes….. the minute we got off the interstate, parked right in front of the cafe in a Chevy, Blazer and a big honkin cowboy hat was the Wamsutter Sherriff. I drove past him with my heart in my throat and made my way to the trailer park. Debi tried to convince me to calm down saying that her mom wasn’t even home yet…. nobody has called it in. She was right of course, she had to be right……… Uh no.. She was wrong!! As we left the trailer park he turned his lights on as he pulled in behind us. We stopped and just sat there. We were done…… Our Thelma and Louise trip had just came to an end.
Debi was still positive. She kept saying, before the Sherriff made his way to the car, he is going to let us go… I can just feel it. I’m not sure if she really believed that or if she just was trying to keep me from freaking out. Either way I knew we were done. No happy Mrs. Bonjovi ending. And that became extremely clear even to her when a State Trooper came speeding off the Highway and came to an abrupt stop next to the Sherriff.
We got a grand tour of the make-shift Sherriff’s station. And apparently her mom found out about the car being missing long before 5pm. We were told that we would not be going to a Detention Center for Kids…. Wyoming doesn’t have them. Even kids go to jail in Wyoming. And that is exactly what happened. We were driven to Green River Wyoming where we were searched, fingerprinted, pictures taken, and locked up!
When asked where we were going, we lied of course. We told them we were going to Cheyenne, Wy. We figured that we already looked dumb enough as it was….. didn’t need to make the papers back in Salt Lake for the Great Bon Jovi Getaway. ;) And luckily we shared a cell. Well at least the first day we did. We got bored and Debi started smirking at me. I asked her what she was thinking and she said “Ever hear about those ppl that get raped in jail?” I just looked at her like “WTF?”…. she started coming at me and I started laughing and well yeah, nothing happened, but they decided we were having too much fun together and moved me into my very own cell.
I spent a total of 4 days in jail. The windows were frosted so that you couldn’t see outside. I did get to read a lot and luckily the played a radio next to my cell for me. I think they felt bad for me because I cried a lot. But the reason I cried was because I finally realized that not all my dreams can come true. And I knew that I would not be allowed to see Debi ever again when I got home. Not because I felt guilty for what I did.
Now don’t get me wrong. I learned my lesson. I am a nature lover, and to not see the green trees, the green grass, the blue sky, etc…. That was severe punishment. I NEVER want to go to jail again.
Debi was forced to live with her Dad and we saw each other a few times after I came back. Eventually she moved with her mom, step-dad and brother to Washington. I saw her once after my daughter Melanie was born and wish I was still in touch with her. I can’t find her no matter how hard I search.
I no longer have a thing for Jon Bon Jovi. Still cute…. but I’m glad I never married him. lol Sorry Jon. ;) I still have that bad girl in me. The one that has some pretty bad ideas that could get me into so much trouble. And I still meet ppl that think my ideas are great and have the guts to see them through…….. But I would never do any of them. I try to be better company to other now. ;) Sorry mom…. I was the troublemaker, not my friends.
The only good thing that comes out of the fact that I was the troublemaker is that none of my kids can pull one over on me. Every evil thought or plan they have, I had. And I’m not the mom that even comes close to believing that it’s the other children that are the bad company.
Though I write this post because I said that very same phrase to my daughter Becca tonight…… The “You’re only as good as the company you keep.” She went out with a couple of friends tonight, one that ended up having a stolen cell phone in her possession. After hours of not coming home one of the children’s parents called the police. We ended up running into him while out looking for Becca and he told us he was searching too.
She ended up coming home with her friends and was told that the police had been called. Her and her friends were scared, as they should be. We got home with the officer in tow. He took Becca’s two friends home. The cell phone was returned to it’s owner of course.
Now Becca didn’t know about the cell phone being stolen till I told her. But as we watched her two friends getting frisked and Becca freaking out that she didn’t know anything and didn’t want the police to take her and such all I could tell her was that she wasn’t in trouble for the cell, but that if she had been picked up by the police with them in another place that they would assume she WAS apart of it. Because you are only as good as the company you keep…………….. wow… I grew up! And I guess I did listen to some of the things my Mom tried to teach me. I hope she does the same.
- Nikketti
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