A night I will NOT ever forget......

  I was getting in my car yesterday to go home from my weekly visit of free dinner at casa de mama y papa McBride when I saw a notice on my phone. Like the majority of people, I put A LOT of info in my phone. I must have put this notification in years ago and forgotten all about it.... It informed me that 36 years ago was Dave Donavan's house party. I looked at my phone and all the great memories of that night came flooding back. 

 

Where it all happened on Oct. 23 1987

 I was a little 8th grader BUT for some reason A LOT of my older brother's friends liked me. Dave had been planning this for months. His parents who we affectionally called Suzi and NuNu bong!!!! HA! I think Dave and a few others found some of his parent's stash one time and they were ALWAYS called that from that point on. ANYWAYS, They were going to be out of town that weekend. (SIDE NOTE) to this day, I am amazed that they didn't hear about it, we lived in a very small town and EVERYONE knew EVERYTHING about EVERYBODY! It was a perfect night because there was no high school football game. So you know H.S football was a HUGE deal in a small town where there wasn't much to do. Being a nerdy little 8th grader, 

Me circa 1987, SWEET MULLET HUH!?!?!?!

I didn't invite anyone because I didn't want to p!ss off Dave or any of my older friends. BUT I vividly remember, that's a statement I will say A LOT in this story, Dave's BEST FRIEND, Todd, asking my friends Mark and Billy if they were coming. OF COURSE they said yes and I think two days before the party, we had it all arranged that they would spend the night at my house because I lived less than a mile from Dave.

 Dave and his crew had the planning of a party down to an art form. He had sort of a 'planning' get together with his friends and for some reason, I tagged along with my brother to it. They planned who would get the keg and who had a pump for it, where the keg would be. I vividly remember Bob C. saying that there needs to be black paper over the windows of the garage so the cops wouldn't see all the people in there. My brother suggested that they have a sign up by the keg telling kids to 'donate' a BUCK or two for the keg, Bob quickly replied, "THAT'S GAY AND WE ARE NOT DOING THAT'! CLASSIC! 

 The day of, kinda felt like a day before a holiday break, you know that feeling, when you are just on 'cruise control' because you KNOW something AWESOME is gonna happen and YOU don't have to go to school the next day! My friends and I just hung out at my house playing Nintendo and mom ALWAYS got pizza from the Sub Shop for dinner. (SIDE NOTE) to this day, EVERY Friday is pizza day! But instead of SUB SHOP pizza, it is a frozen one from Aldi. After dinner it was ON. We went to Dave's house, 'donated' our dollar for the keg and proceeded to drink as much beer as our little bodies could handle. 

 It was like a party out of one of those movies. EVERYONE was there, HECK, even kids from other towns. Kids were EVERYWHERE! I vividly remember Dustin F. (RIP) being 'tipsy' and walking around with my two friends Mark and Billy under each arm, going around looking for 'skully' A.K.A girls! HA!!!!!! I was just hanging around the stereo drinking my 5th cup of beer when Todd said "You are officially in charge of the music.' WELL! Let's just say that hairbands were played A LOT that night! PLUS, this was one of the first moments when I knew what my calling was. I tell people that I wished I knew nuclear engineering like I do music knowledge. There are songs and bands I hear and I will just spit out 'usually' stupid knowledge about it, like "Did you know Prince played keyboards on this song?" I thank Todd for starting my love for music back in 1987. At one point of the party, a girl who will remain nameless fell down the stairs and came an inch away from hitting a wall stud and dying. HA!! The day after, Our friend Dave A. fixed the hole in the wall and I don't think Suzi and NuNu 'bong' EVER knew about it..

 My curfew was midnight and Mark and I were plastered, For some reason, Billy was kinda sober. We had to go up a hill, through woods and the back of a school to get home. Mark and I were so drunk that we could barely walk. Billy was so upset about us floundering that he started crying and went back to the party to get help. Two older guys, Dustin F and Dan B. came up to help. KAYE, ELLIE, JAE, MAGGIE, SHAE SHAE, CARLA and all the Fleming clan!  KAYLA, MELISSA, and EVERYBODY at casa de H-B. THIS IS WHY I will ALWAYS think Dustin and Dan are the 'cat's meow'! They came and assessed the situation, got Mark and I sober enough to walk, and those two guys made sure we got back to my house. To this day, I have NO IDEA how we made it past my parents! Maybe they knew but let it slide and just chalked it up as, "Well it's not too bad, they didn't die."