JOSIE'S ON A VACATION FAR AWAY

I was born June 15th, 1979, so I was actually a product of the seventies; however, it's the eighties that I remember. Now you're thinking, if you were born in 1979, how do you know so much about the eighties? You were just a baby. Well I was, but I can recall all of my most favorite memories and they occurred during the eighties. I think we as humans remember what we want to remember, if that makes any sense at all. For example, remember when Mountain Dew and other soft drinks came in a glass bottle with that Styrofoam label on it? I think they tasted better in the glass bottles! And for you Trumannites, how about the dip and jo-jo potatoes at Harlow's?! I loved going with my mom to the "Smart Shoppe" downtown, too. Or Beta tapes, those short VHS tapes? Or better yet, here's one I know will ring a bell: Headbanger's Ball starring Riki Rachtman?! MTV actually played music videos back then. Now all they play are those reality shows that involve teenagers and their parents discussing sexual intercourse?! WHAT?? And we thought Lita Ford's video; "Kiss Me Deadly" was promiscuous. I can remember when I was about four or five years old, the first time I played Foos Ball at my uncle's arcade, The Twilight Zone. Not to mention my fascination with Ms. Pacman, Q-Bert, Donkey Kong, and last but certainly not least, Galaga! Those were the days. I can also remember my baby-sitter's daughter, Cindy, who was around 16, and how she loved to ride up and down the highway in Trumann just to wave at everybody, and how I would hear stories of how it took 30 minutes to get from Guy's to Barton's. Sure, we "rode around" when I was in high school, but I definitely think we missed out on the eighties.

Hopefully, you've got a crooked grin on your face now, reminiscing about the good ole days. What triggered this blog was my son, of course. His favorite question right now is "What's that?" He was referring to a cassette tape. I tried to tell him, in so many words, that it was like a CD. My mom's car has a tape player, so I popped the Madonna cassette in the player, and his eyes lit up as he started swaying back and forth to "Lucky Star". I thought, 'he will never know what cassette tapes are'! I'm truly trying not to ramble, but I'm getting so excited about remembering things, like 72's and 45's (records for those that don't know) and how I loved playing those 45's. I keep all this useless information in the front of my brain because at my job, my co-workers and I talk about stuff like this for hours on end. It's so much fun. We work too, though!

I'll leave you with the first memory of hearing a Rock-n-Roll song on the radio, or at least the one that really stands out the most. I was riding in my uncle's I-Roc, yeah I know, and we were pulling into Sonic. I asked why are we listening to this noise so loud and what is it? He told me that it was rock-n-roll, and that "noise" was Guns N Roses' "Sweet Child O Mine". I held my hands over my ears at the time, but now I'm the one turning it up! Heck, I just felt lucky to ride with him to Sonic and go down the highway with him. It wasn't exactly "cool" to have your five year old niece with you while cruising the strip.

So the next time you're riding down the road and you hear one of your favorite eighties songs, think of me! More than likely, I'm listening too!