the 80s

the 80s

My friends over at the WWk boards were having a discussion yesterday about the 80s.

It's odd to me that when the 1980s ended, I was 13...and yet, I still translate a lot of my present day memories and ideas to that decade. The music from back then is my favorite music to listen to, the movies are the ones I would still choose to cuddle up with on a wet rainy day.

Is it because it was a time of innocence? A time before I had to realize responsibility? Or just merely a better age? Back then, we waited until saturday morning, when we would make a beeline to the Tv for our cartoons, which were only on once a week. When christmas came, the fervor at which I tore open my gifts is unparalleled to this day. If I saw even the slightest hint of Barbie pink under the wrap, I was ecstatic for so long. My own children watch cartoons every day, they have 8 channels to choose from that are solely cartoon networks. They have dozens of Barbies, none of whom are in any clothes, their mansion is in disarray and the girls barely look their way.

When I think to the 80s, I think of my parents still being together, and still liking each other. I think to my sister always being around, mostly annoying me, but always there. I think to visits with my grandparents, who have since both passed away, and to whiling summer days away on the beach.

I suppose that our childhoods will always be a bittersweet memory. We fight so hard to be "grownups". We want to be in middle school, we want to be 13 so we can go see movies by ourselves...we want high school... we want to learn to drive.... we want first dates...we want prom.... we want college.... and then somewhere after college, we are suddenly surrounded by adults thinking "wow, how did I get here?"

I am 28. I have three kids. I look at them, playing, their excitement and enthusiasm sometimes boiling over. And I think it amazing that it was not so long ago that I was in their shoes.

I will forever cherish those 80s. the pound puppies, the curly shoelaces, the Wham and Duran and Duran, the tree swings, the Jedi powers, the Dukes of Hazzard at 7am on Saturdays. This is my privelege. I got to grow up in a time when things were Big and Overdone. Things were easier and stranger. So I am now going to sit here in my acid washed jeans, with my blue mascara on, listening to Cyndi Lauper on my Walkman, and scratch and sniff my sticker album. Ciao, amigos.