Farewell Olivia Newton John

The summer of 1978 I worked in a printing factory in Stamford. It was a 45 minute drive from my house in my 1972 gold Chevy Impala that got about 12 miles to the gallon. There was a gas crisis and I would wait in gas lines on the odd numbered days to fill my tank’s tank.

The best part about that summer was that the movie Grease came out and my boyfriend Charlie and I went to see it five times. Sometimes our friend Jack would drive us. The benefit to that was he had a car which used less gas and Charlie and I could sit in the back seat and make out.

Olivia Newton John and John Travolta sang us through summer. I had the cassette tape and could sing along in my Chevy, when no one else was in the car with me. I think we ignored the fact that there was a pregnancy scare in the movie. We were just kissing back then so that never crossed our minds.

To us the innocence of Sandy was the best part of the movie. I can remember both Charlie and I did not like when Sandy came out smoking and dressed in black leather at the end of the movie. Still we went back to the movie over and over. Obviously there was not much for us to do in Wilton, Connecticut back then. I also was exhausted from working in the printing factory so sitting in an air conditioned theatre was the best. Everything was a lot simpler then.

So it is with great sadness that I learned of Olivia Newton John’s passing today. She always will be young and beautiful to me. Her voice will forever be stuck in my head singing, “totally devoted to you.” Grease was the soundtrack to that happy and carefree summer.