There’s a lot I miss about the innocence of my youth. I miss it for myself and I miss it for the sake of my children. It makes me sad that they will never quite understand the wonder of Jem, teased bangs and neon t-shirts, video stores on a Friday night. All that makes me nostalgic and long for those years that seem so distant past.
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But...
I don’t miss everything.
While I have an uncanny tendency to look back with rose coloured glasses, not everything about those years was perfect and worthy of nostalgia. There are some things that are so much better off being left behind. Way, way behind.
Let me remind you if you might have forgotten how the 80s (and 90s) weren’t exactly as perfect as you remember:
1. Being chased down the street by the crazy and angry German Shepard that was roaming the neighbourhood again. Don’t get me wrong, I love dogs. I have one myself but that doesn’t mean I want someone’s mean dog constantly chasing kids down the block. Leash laws, thanks!
2. Being uncool unless you have a perm. So you go off and get yourself one, and resemble a wet poodle for an entire year thereafter. Been there, done that. No, thank you.
3. Not being able to find a single vegetarian entrée on a menu, no matter which restaurant you go to. So having two servings of mashed potatoes. Again.
4. Blue eyeshadow and frosted lipstick. That is all. And that is plenty.
5. Having to page your friends to figure out where they are. Then waiting for them to call you back. We were like walking intercom systems and not in a good way.
6. Waiting by the tape recorder all day so you could record your favourite song once it came on the radio. Now you can listen to it all day, everyday thanks to the internet. I should know. My daughter has had "Let It Go" on repeat for the last two years. It’s on right now.
7. Long division. They don’t still do it schools, do they? Because, seriously? That stuff is obsolete. Or at least it should be.
8. Using a rotary telephone. Because sometimes a two minute conversation took approximately ten minutes and 56 seconds to dial out. And that’s assuming you get all the numbers right.
9. Calling in for the bus schedule. This almost certainly guaranteed that you’d miss the damn bus by the time you finally managed to listen to it all.
10. Dial up internet. With no call waiting. Oh. So. Tedious. But I'll be damned if that pop up mail icon didn’t make it all worth it.
What do you so-not-miss about the 80s and 90s? Share your top picks so we can reminisce and laugh together!
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