80's Week

My sister Megan has issued an “80’s week” blog challenge. Apparently, those of us who read her blog and have blogs of our own are to create an 80’s post. The week is nearly over and I have yet to comply! The reason for postponing is this: I know what everyone (myself included) is looking for in an 80’s post; we are looking for big hair, fluorescence, leg warmers and maybe stretch pants. While I did have a fluorescent green T-shirt, I was a bit young to manage with blow-drying and scrunching, and even if I had been old enough, my hair has always been loathe to comply with any poofing.

Mike told me that if I was writing an 80’s post it ought to contain He-Man (and the Masters of the Universe) – at which point I was forced to admit to him that I’d been in love with He-Man and dreamt of someday marrying him. This didn’t ruffle Mike as I thought it might (a woman likes to see her husband display a little possessive jealousy every once in awhile). He seemed to see that yes, He-Man would definitely be a temptation to even the strongest of women.

Still, as I considered the decade as a whole, I realized that it was a pretty great time. The 80’s covered my life from ages 3 through 13 – which is about as good as it got for me. The 90’s were a disaster. I have managed to somewhat recover in the 2000’s, but my teenage years were not kind to me. Some of you may have read my post entitled Chickens. In it, I discussed what an awful site teenage chickens are. They are just so darling as fluffy little chicks, and not bad as hens, but during their half fluff/half feather stage they are hideous. At the time I wrote that, I hardly realized that I was practically writing a metaphor of my own life! Here I am at the tail end of the 80’s. Shannon had spent a good deal of time on my bangs for 6th grade “picture day” and they turned out rather spectacular considering how my hair usually responded to such proddings.

That was the end of my “cute fluffy chick” stage. After that, I entered the 90’s. I was one of the lucky ones who had such horrible acne that people often mistook it for some sort of hideous rash and would ask, “What’s wrong?” with worried and frightened expressions. I am currently nearly 6 feet tall, which is all good and well, but I did not arrive at this height gracefully. My face took on an extra round appearance during those years. Baggy clothes were in which served only to make a "tall" girl look like a "big" girl. As I considered upon this, I realized that the 80’s were definitely a highlight decade for this girl. Here’s a little glimpse of that happy time:



Here is the "haunted house" halloween costume my friend Lizzie and I made. Pretty clever, huh? (You can probably guess which side was mine as I was the taller of the two of us . . . which I guesss means she had to look through that barred up window).

There were loads of pictures taken of "the three girls." Yes, we were quite beloved, we last three little ones.



We spent many Summer days at my Grandma's place at Bear Lake. Some of my happiest memories of life were created there.


Me and Shannon


I'm guessing this is how the orphanage wrapped Megan and me after finding us out in the cold streets? . . . My parents must have taken us out of pity.


There were also plenty of goings on with all five girls. Here, Kathy and Amy had taken us to get pictures as a surprise for our parents. They looked pretty darn 80's!


Oh, Amy always let us sleep in her room on Christmas Eve. So fun (except for the inevitable waking up to a pin poking you. We always got those cute nightgowns -- handmade by my mom -- on Christmas Eve . . . and somehow there was always a forgotten pin. Who knows, maybe it's some old Christmas tradition like finding the almond in the pudding?).