Reflect on the 80’s

The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball.  ~Doug Larson

Lucky for me I still get the urge to throw a snowball every time I’m around snow.  I live in Florida though so those occasions are rare, however I still consider the urge a sign of vitality and youth so I get a bit annoyed when people tell me, “You’re turning 30 on Friday! I hope you enjoyed your youth! Now you’re getting old.”  The people that say that are annoying.  I don’t think people quite understand how big and how long and how full of potential life truly is and I feel bad for those people.  Let’s break my life down by decade, ok?  Let’s have a little fun with this…

The 80’s

1982.  Hooray! I’m born! Let’s get this party started! No kidding though…people really were getting the party started. Some of the best selling albums of 1982 were Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast” and Prince’s “1999”.  Overall in the 1980’s we were listening to U2, Guns N Roses, Sonic Youth, Michael Jackson, AC/DC, The Talking Heads, The Cure, Metallica (“Master of Puppets” anyone?), Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, etc. I’ll be honest in the 80’s I wasn’t allowed to listen to Metallica or Guns N Roses or AC/DC. I didn’t get into them until I was a lot older. I was allowed to listen to Cyndi Lauper. “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” was my song! I was 5…or 6…that song was my anthem for life. No kidding. I listened to Tiffany too. I also listened to a lot of country music with my Dad. I listened to Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers and Alabama. I knew them all. I loved them all. Music was music and music was awesome. Music of the 80’s is still awesome.

The 80’s was a good decade.  I saw my first movie at the theatre in the 80’s.  I saw “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” when I was about 6 years old. It wasn’t released in the 80’s but my mom told me that before she would take me to see a new release (like E.T.) I had to prove to her I could sit still (and quiet) during a whole movie so she took me to see the matinee showing of the 1930’s animated version of Snow White. It terrified me! When the Evil Queen was trying to give Snow White the poison apple up on top of the mountain and it was dark and there was lightning…I was scared. I remember having nightmares. I was a cute kid. Some other awesome movies of the 80’s were “Weird Science”, “Back to the Future”, “Coming to America”, “GhostBusters”, “The Breakfast Club”, “The Goonies”, “Adventures in Babysitting“, “Teen Wolf”, “Sixteen Candles”, “Police Academy” and so many others. The movie list could go on and on.

Do you remember “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”? Yeah. I do too. I loved that movie! Wyld Stallions!! Ha! I had such a crush on Keanu Reeves too. He was my first crush. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that now but it’s true. You are required to forgive me though because it was the 80’s and I was a kid. That hair is hiliarious. All 80’s hair was hilarious. It was just so big and so fluffy.  At 6 years old I wasn’t allowed to have big fluffy hair and my baby hair was too fine to tease. I would have if I could have though…it was the style of the 80’s. Keanu in the 80’s though = total swoon. Whenever I played “M.A.S.H.” with my friends he was always one of the boys I listed. Sometimes I would even list “Ted ‘Theodore’ Logan” too that way it was Keanu #2.  I was young, but I was clever. 🙂

 What about 80’s television? I know I was in love with the “Dukes of Hazzard”.  I was only about 3 in this picture here but on my shirt is a picture of Daisy Duke and her jeep. What about “ALF“? Do you remember ALF? The alien from Melmac who liked to eat cats? I loved ALF. He made me giggle. My mom loved “Designing Women.”  I watched that with her too. Who can forget “Doogie Howser“? I think that kid wrote the original blog. It was always so deep too. Way too deep for a kid his age. There was also “Wonder Years”, “Who’s the Boss”, “Mama’s Family”, “Saved by the Bell” and I have to stop right there.  “Saved by the Bell” was the best!!! Cue crush #2. Zack Morris was a dream. What was I…7? 8? I don’t know but that blond-headed troublemaking boy made my heart beat far more rapidly than it should have been beating. Boys still had cooties…unless they were named Keanu Reeves or Zack Morris. Somehow they had cootie immunity. Also on televsion we had “Growing Pains” and “Full House” and “The Cosby Show.” Man…there was just so much going on. Entertainment was awesome.

It wasn’t just all fun in the 80’s though.  I was a kid but that didn’t mean it was all about playing with “My Little Pony”, “Cabbage Patch Kids” and Nintendo games like “Mario Bros.” I was busy learning too.  I had a lot to learn in the 80’s.  I was learning how to walk, talk, and feed myself.  I was also learning how to dress myself and tie my shoes. I learned the standard alphabet, how to write my letters and how to spell my own name. I read my first books and I learned all about Dick and Jane their dog Spot.  I learned my numbers and I learned how to put those numbers together to solve math problems like addition and subtraction.  I learned that the United States wasn’t a continent but it was country within a continent. I learned what a continent is and how it differs from a consanant.  I learned about the US States and memorized their capitals (both in alphabetical order). I learned to identify other countries and their flags. I made my first friendships, lost my first pet, moved to a new state, figured out that brothers are mean and life isn’t “fair” and a new baby always steals the show.  I took dance lessons and became a ballerina and tap dancer. I won my first awards and enjoyed being a kid. A lot happened in 10 years. My head hurts now even trying to remember it all.

So now it’s 1989. The 80’s are drawing a close and I’m only 8 years old. I’m finishing up the 2nd grade and it’s almost 1990. Wow. 1990. People are teasing me about how I’m almost in “double digit age” and I’m getting “so old.”  Little do they know the 90’s take just as long as the 80’s…and then the 2000’s…and then the 10’s. 10’s? Lol. That just reads so weird.