I drove a Razz moped in high school

I'm sure all of you are well aware of the fact that I am cool. I am. Very cool. And I was in junior high and high school, too. As evidenced by the fact that I drove a Razz until I got my license and my first car.

All of my guy friends had mopeds at that age (13-15), too. We all needed them (and could afford them) because we worked at one of the local farms. We had only a few options for getting to and from our jobs:

1) Mom or dad bringing us and picking us up

2) riding our bikes

3) driving a moped

Since most of us didn't really have option #1 (our parents worked), and option 2 got old really fast, we all opted for #3. And we were cool. We could go anywhere we wanted to a lot faster on our 30mph mopeds than on our 10 speed bikes. My girlfriends were stuck on their bikes riding only as far as their bodies allowed them... I, on the other hand, could traverse quite a distance in a short amount of time. I was cool - remember?

(note... my girlfriends were also into all of that girly crap that I just couldn't understand - acrylic nails, manicures, makeup, Paul Mitchell hair products, Verve perfume, designer clothing, purses, the list goes on. That is why they weren't working in the muck - they didn't want to get dirty. I don't think I had much of a choice at first, but I ended up loving it and the people I worked with. And I would not trade the experience or the character that I gained for any amount of acryllic nails and Verve perfume.)

My Razz meant freedom for me. Before the moped I was confined to the familiar area that I had already ridden my bike to and I didn't want to ride my bike to places by myself. Part of the fun of riding our bikes was doing it together and talking the whole time. Who wants to ride a bike 2 miles to the gas station by themselves just to get some candy? But on a moped 2 miles to the gas station was a quick trip and well worth the time for buying a single candy bar or pack of Skittles - and I could do it on a whim, whenever I got a craving or an urge to just go out. And I wasn't limited to my parents wanting to drive me or pick me up or to their work schedules - I could go to a friends house pretty much whenever I wanted to (as long as it was okay with my parents) and not depend on anyone else to drive me or pick me up. It was free-ing.

You know how you felt when you got your license and your first car? That was kind of how I felt with my moped. Not to the same extent because I was still young and not quite adventurous or needing that ultimate freedom, yet, but a little bit like that nonetheless.

My moped defines my early teenage years for me - It is what I remember about junior high. Okay, that and Verve perfume.

QOTD:

What made you cool in junior high?

getting to know me in 100 days - day 15

And just so you know, I was politely corrected by Television Slave's husband that I did not drive a moped - I drove a scooter. To which I say, as Toby from RockStar: Supernova says, "EVS!"