My Brevard Story Originally from West Virginia my family relocated to Cocoa on 1971. What an awesome change for a kid of 12 but there were struggles. The whole flip flop thing got me. I felt like a duck walking in tall grass and usually broke them within an hour or so. I “trained” my feet to walk on the hot blacktop streets to fit in. Tried surfing but my career in that ended I think my third time out when a wave took the board high and me low enough to scrape on my face on bottom only to have the board whack me in the head as I tried to catch my feet. Having a sister two years older was great since my parents used to make me tag along with her. When I was 13 her date to her to the CB pier Xmas Eve and a band was playing Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone”. Pretty much my first exposure ever to live music and I was mesmerized! I played youth football a couple of years, one for the Jr Gators and we had an undefeated season. Played for Cocoa high JV one year and decided football wasn’t for me. The Apollo program was wrapping up but I did get to see a couple of launches not to mention I looked at the Today paper everyday to see if anything was being launched. I would ride my bike to the river to see. At 17 (the drinking age was 18 then) I had a friends ID (Florida license were an orange piece of paper then) and I was pretty much a regular at Boars Head on Friday and Saturday nights. On my 18th birthday a bunch of friends and I were celebrating there when the bartender asked what the occasion was. Without thinking I said my 18th b-day and he replied “you SOB, you’ve been coming in here for almost a year!” The Quarry (small lake in Rockledge) and under the 520 bridge were the make out places of choice then, along with a spot on River Road in Rockledge. My first day of high school at Rockledge I had Granny Ball as a teacher, my older sister had her a year or so before. I came to class with my holey jeans and a button down shirt. Ms. Ball informed me my sister always dressed nice and she actually sent me home to change before she would let me in class. In 75 I married and moved to Orlando but my in-laws lived in Rockledge so we visited often on weekends. I still have friends I visit when I’m in the area. Thanks Brevard!!!…what a great place to go through adolescence. I can still smell the salt (and fishy) warm air blowing off the river.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 17:40:20 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015