It's funny how important time gets the older I am. When I was a kid I didn't seem to notice it nearly as much. When the decades changed from the 60's to the 70's I don't know if I even cared. The only thing I remember is being glad that the era of the hippies seemed to be slipping away and fashions were getting prettier. At least, I thought so.
I was 13 when 1970 began, in 8th grade, still reading books as I walked to and from school and during lunch, but beginning to grow up a little bit. Lime green was my favorite color, and I dreamed of owning a green Volkswagen Beetle some day. The closest I got was a huge pair of round, lime green sunglasses which I proudly wore everywhere. I thought they made me look like Audrey Hepburn.
Back in those days our church used to put on Road Shows each year. They were so much fun. Each ward would write, practice, and then put on a fifteen minute musical play for everyone in our community. There were so many wards in our town it took two nights to put on all the shows. They were called Road Shows because on the nights of the performances we would travel from church to church, performing our show. Audiences at each building would get to see all the different ward's plays, and it was a lot of fun.
1970 was my first chance to be in a Road Show, and it was exciting. I was young, so I didn't have a very big part. I was just one of the townspeople who sang and stood around. I think our play was based on the song "Henry the Eighth" by Herman's Hermits, although we changed the words around to fit our story. I got to wear a long princess dress and I thought I looked so pretty. I had a cousin who was a beautician, and she fixed my hair special for the Road Show, putting it up on top of my head in big sausage curls and braids. She used starch to to keep the curls in place so my hair-do would last both nights, and it worked. The curls were as stiff as cardboard and lasted a lot longer than two days.
I didn't wash them out because early in the morning on the day after our Road Show the youth in our ward went on another Super Activity, this time to Bryce and Zion's Canyons in Utah. Mom and dad both went this time, and we had a great time.
I suppose there must have been about 50 youth in our ward, so it took a lot of adults to drive and chaperon all of us. This time the plan was to take the girls to Zion's Canyon for the first day and the boys to Bryce, spend the night at motels at each place, then switch on the second day and spend that night at the other motel. Both canyons were beautiful and staying in two different motels was very exciting, but for me the most memorable part of the trip was stopping at Glen Canyon Dam on Lake Powell as we came home. We took time to tour the dam, riding in an elevator all the way to the bottom to see where the electricity was made. Sister Reheise, one of the mom's in our group, was deathly afraid of elevators. Her face was almost the same color as my green sunglasses by the time we got through with that tour.
Being a kid on these Super Activities was certainly a lot easier than being an adult chaperon. All I had to worry about was which car I would ride in and having enough money for souvenirs. The poor adults had to keep track of all of us, keep us out of mischief, and make sure everyone was having a good time. Kids can be pretty dumb, both girls and boys. I remember two of my friends running from room to room on this super activity, knocking on doors, then hiding. They thought they were so funny. Thank goodness we've grown up, although that means I'm the adult chaperon now, and it's my kids who are being silly.
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