Pop that cherry

Being horribly unpopular in high school, except with the teachers, natch, I have been a 'lake virgin' all my life.

Okay, so that's not completely true., I have spent time at lakes. My Uncle Sam (yes, that was his name) had a cabin at one of the area lakes and family events almost always took place there. We'd sit in innertubes and float around the scuzzy lake in between rounds of food (we're Norwegian Lutherans – of course there was food). But as an adolescent whose peers would go to the lake on weekends to hang out and tan and socialize – well, I wasn't part of that group. I was too 'goody-goody' apparently. My peers would make plans around me, so I knew what they were planning to do, but I was never invited and never felt like I could ask to join in.

Yesterday, all that changed. My friends, E&K, met up at Lake Okoboji and invited me to stop down for a quick visit since it's so much closer than their real house. I'll admit I was a little nervous but figured E&K wouldn't lead me astray.

It was great. We dumped our stuff on some chairs and headed into the water – just as I remembered it from my youth. All lakes must be just a little scuzzy and greasy. I felt like I was in a oil bath. A cold oil bath.

Then we just sat on the beach, reading, sun-bathing, relaxing. Not that I needed more down time from the uneventful weekend, but it felt great to just chill with some great friends. YAY!

And to be honest, it felt really great to be part of the in-crowd for once.