Laughed Until We Cried: Part 1

There’s a song called, “Laughed until we cried” by Jason Aldean. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night and started to think of that song. The first verse is talking about a senior trip that the guy took with his classmates years ago and how they laughed until they cried while they were on the trip. I love the song and I love the idea behind the song.
And so it took me back to April of 2000. I wasn’t supposed to attend the trip to Ashland Oregon’s famous Shakespearian festival because I didn’t like all of the kids that were going. Plus I didn’t want to spend my hard earned drug sales profits on a trip to Oregon of all places (I had not yet discovered the beauty that is Oregon). During that time I was a young, crazy lil gang member with baggies, bandanas, slicked back hair and a pocket full of weed. My friends that were there: Alfredo (gums), Janet, Sean (powder), and Sara. These were my in-school friends, a bunch of studious, funny well-behaved kids that were in no way involved in the gang-banging mess. They were the ones that convinced me to go even though I didn’t want to. There was also the rest of Mr. Griffins Honors English Class. My group of friends were the ones that actually had a sense of humor, the rest were all squares.
So there we were on what would promise to be the trip of all trips. On the trip there were the six of us, plus Perla, a girl I had a crush on at the time. Long story short about Perla, we were good friends when I was a shy guy. Junior year I started talking more, and apparently she didn’t like my outgoing personality so she stopped talking to me. Senior year she got a makeover, got rid of her huge bottle cap glasses, put on some make-up and did her hair. After that she looked really cute so of course she got my attention again, lol.
Mrs. Baughn was driving the 1980’s SUV and would stop every once in a while to take smoke brakes. I tirelessly tried to convince her that she should share her cigarettes with me even though she was the teacher and I was a student, a request which she repeatedly declined.
As soon as we arrived in Ashland we all split up. Sean, Alfredo and I went in the opposite direction of the rest of the groups in order to smoke a joint without getting caught. Sean, simply along for the ride, was as drug free as a white preppy kid in high school can be. As we finished off our joint, we walked down to what seemed to be a main street. Just as we hit the sidewalk, we see a large procession taking place. We had no idea what it was so we watched them all go by and as soon as we read the signs, we understood that the moment was serendipitous! The procession happened to be a “legalize marijuana” 4/20 day parade! We joined in the procession and borrowed a persons sign walking proudly while screaming, “Legalize it!”
As we approached one of the street corners, we continued with our chant only to encounter the rest of the group from our school! The teachers were annoyed at us but Sara and Janet were flabbergasted at the surprising sight of us guys marching in the 4/20 rally. They even took a picture of all of us marching in the rally. The scene was so hilarious that even the square kids from our class had to release a laugh. As I was writing this I realize that I have NO IDEA what happened to that picture. Man, I wish I had it. It would probably make me smile huge right now if I saw it; all of our faces with huge smiles and bloodshot eyes, without a care in mind in a world that was still young and crazy…