Ok Mom and Dad, this is where you should probably stop reading and skip over the next few episodes of my life in Tampa. Now I wasn’t completely naive when it came to marijuana, it was always around, I mean everywhere. Especially college, but for whatever reason, I never tried it. Ok, well, that’s not entirely true….let’s rewind a bit.
Back in Orlando we had these young neighbors who loved to smoke it. They lived right across the hall from us and every time they opened the door, a cloud of smoke would fill the hallway. Growing up a tom boy, I seemed to always have that token male friend in every city I moved to and in Orlando, there was Jeff. He was awesome and a big pot head but he knew I had no interest in it so he never once pressured me to try it. One afternoon we were on our way to see Beavis and Butthead the movie and as we were heading out, we bumped into our hippie neighbors. They smelled like a weed farm and of course Jeff was all over that. They invited us in to have a quick smoke before the movie which I was against fearing the long arm of the law would surely bust us for just being in the room. Once that group of veteran smokers found out that I was 23 and had never been high, it was all over.
Although it was early afternoon, the room was dark with various scarves draped over the windows. Monty Python was playing silently on the TV with the Door’s in the background secretly setting the mood. I had literally walked into a marijuana layer filled with all types of gadgets to get you high. There were hookahs, one hitters, joints, bongs and pipes of all different shapes and sizes with several kinds of pot to choose from. It’s as if they knew I was coming and had set the scene perfectly. I remember trying to smoke a cigarette years back and after many attempts, there was no way I could get that smoke in my lungs so I was quick to let them know that their pot was wasted on me as I had no idea how to inhale. But they were relentless and with my good friend Jeff by my side, I felt it was safe, so I gave in.
First they handed me a small glass pipe where you had to put your finger over a hole and suck in as hard as you can. So I did and like I told them, it didn’t work. Now we all saw the plume of smoke come flying out of my mouth but I was sure that it had never made it to my lungs, so we waited a few minutes to see how I felt. Next was the hookah which looked like a tall genie lamp with 4 long, skinny tubes connected to the top. This was much easier to smoke so I hit it a few times, waited and again, no effect. Everyone just stared at me waiting for the buzz to kick in as I sat there innocently thinking that nothing was going to happen, but oh how wrong I was!! Feeling defeated in their quest to de-virginize me, I was handed a J, which I felt at ease with so away I puffed and puffed and puffed!!!
By this time we had missed the first showing of the movie so there was no rush to leave just yet, the next one was a good hour away which was plenty of time for me to experience the magnitude of what I had just done. The novelty of the newbie had worn off so the group had broken up into various conversations while I sat in a chair wondering why everyone room was moving in slow motion. As I waved my hand back and forth in front of my face it dawned on me that it was moving at a snail’s pace meant that I could actually be high. Recalling the next 30 minutes is tough but the last thing I remember was me on the floor in tears with about 7 people, pointing and laughing in my direction. It was hysterical and to be honest, there was no particular reason for the laughter, but I couldn’t stop, it was fun.
We thanked our new friends as we headed out the door. It was still day time so the light helped to snap me out of it….for the moment. We rushed to the theater but it was packed which meant we had to separate and sit alone. At this point I felt just fine and figured the best part of the buzz was behind me until the movie started. In between laughing until my face hurt and continuously feeling like the person next to me could smell the pot and at any moment would turn me into the police, it was as great day. The funny thing is, as much as I liked it, there was not one moment after where I ever thought about trying it again. Drinking was my baby, not smoking, so it would be at least 2 years before Mary Jane would enter my life again.
So this brings us back to Darren, my wealthy boyfriend in Clearwater who decided it was time to introduce me to the underground, which was about to change everything…
The Mid Life Traveler 