In 1970 I was constantly on "restriction". It wasn't that I was bad; I tried hard to be as good as possible. I wasn't sneaky, was still a virgin, and despite having 4 sisters and 5 brothers, was able to keep up with housework with the help of my friends. The Catholic school was almost next door and I referred to our neighborhood as "a Catholic ghetto." For the entire school year I had been going out with a guy from another school about 10 away. That's how far I had to go to get away from the reputation our family had. Everyone knew us within a 20 mile radius. My oldest brother was in the Navy and brought home shipmates that made me tingle just to think of how it would feel to kiss and caress one of those guys. Sure I had made out with my steady boyfriend, Dale, but it had never gotten farther than being felt up. I knew a little about sex, had experimented with masturbation and the usual sexual curiosity that family members experienced, at least as far as I knew, anyway. Dale wanted to take the summer off from our relationship.
My school binder that year had the popular blue canvas cover. On the spine of my binder were the words "F R E E L O V E" written in black marker. Anybody who knew me would know that I loved everyone, well, almost everyone. I was sweet natured, had a positive attitude and liked mostly everyone I knew. But my mother had other ideas. It meant I was "loose" and that's the only thing it could mean. RESTRICTION! No freedom, grounded!