Yes I admit it. I am a huge fan of the 1980′s. I graduated high school in June of 1989, which means I lived through the entire decade while I went to school. The 3 most shocking events from that time that stand out in my mind to this day are – the assassination attempt on American President Ronald Reagan, Mt. St. Helen’s eruption and the space shuttle exploding. I remember sitting home on the weekends watching television shows with my parents. Who Shot Jr on Dallas, Crystal and Alexis fighting in Dynasty and what would ever become of Falcon Crest. I also remember being captivated by Charlie’s Angels, Julie on the Love Boat and dreaming of far off places on Fantasy Island. As much as I played outside I spent way to much time in front of the television.

This picture was my one of my many senior pictures, where I attempted to look cool and in style. I remember spending around 4 hours changing clothes and taking pictures all out in the country where I grew up. I wanted to look cool and be a model so I bought some magazines and tried to recreate poses, all of course in an effort to be cool. Did it work? Well I will leave that up to you to decide.

While in high school I developed a great love for movies. In fact we didn’t even own a VCR until I was in high school. We had to go to the video store and rent both a VCR and movies. The first movies we rented were Footloose, Terms of Endearment and An Officer and a Gentleman. I lost track of how many times I watched Footloose throughout that entire weekend. It seems odd now to think back that we had to rent both. Since I was in college I have owned a VCR, in fact we still have a bookshelf full of VHS tapes. I never got into beta, but it was an option back then.

My other love was and still is music, it’s a great escape and so many songs are tied in to specific memories for me. Whatever I am doing I always have music on. Growing up in Montana we had 3 options for FM radio stations – country, pop or rock and roll. Living out in the country required riding the bus to get to school. In 2nd grade they upgraded the buses and we got a bus that had a radio on it. Of course the high schoolers dictated what was played and we got to listen to rock and roll. Up until that time I thought the only type of music was Country or Bluegrass, that was all we listened to in my family. Once I heard it, I was hooked. There were two songs I distinctly remember learning as my first rock and roll songs. Alan Parson’s Project – “Games People Play” and Human League’s – “Don’t You Want Me”. Music is still a huge part of my life today and while my tastes in music have widened considerably I am still drawn to rock and roll.

During the summer of my Sophomore year I was asked by a friend of mine if I would consider coming out here to Portland to watch take care of her son. She would pay me for taking care of her son and show me what life was like living in the “big city”. I boarded a Greyhound bus and sent out for Portland. I hadn’t ever been on a bus trip like this before and it was quite an experience I will never forget. I remember being really nervous and seeing all different types of people getting on and off at the many bus stops along the way. Me being the small town white boy with no cultural diversity it came as such a shock to see who actually takes Greyhound. I made it to Portland and got to experience a bit of the “big city” life. My friend and her husband showed me around Portland, took me to the ocean while I took care of their 3-year-old son. It didn’t last long. My friend’s husband soon became jealous of me and thought we were having an affair and so I got sent back home. Thankfully my friend paid me for the entire from summer and took me shopping before I left. For the first time in my life I got to purchase cool clothes from stores we didn’t have growing up out in the country. Most of my life my clothes had been hand me downs, Goodwill and Kmart. Once in a while if I was really lucky I could get a cool shirt from Jay Jacobs. My friend and I continued to keep in touch through the years exchanging letters to each other. Her husband turned into a real jerk, divorced her and took off with their son. My friend eventually got remarried and I was lucky enough to connect with her after I moved out here. About 4 years ago she was killed in a car accident in California. We had continued to keep in touch over the years and I still have all her letters she wrote to me.

I was not with the “in crowd”, I didn’t have all the latest fashions and when I actually was able to drive (I flunked my driving test the first time). I didn’t have a cool car. I didn’t seriously date, although I wanted to. I never dated any of the hottest girls in school, but there was always one girl who held my heart. Thankfully we are still friends to this day. I was involved in Speech/Drama and Debate as well as was as the local Children’s Theatre productions of Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, The Wizard of Oz and Rip Van Winkle. Later in high school I rocked a few of the parts I played in our high school productions, my favorite was playing the parts of Radar O’Reilly from Mash.

School wasn’t a lot of fun for me, a lot of rejection and pain are what I was left with. I didn’t try to apply myself a lot and school became more of a place for me to get away from my family. As I gained some self-confidence in my Junior and Senior Year I started going out with a few friends. I remember going to a teen night club called Crickets, dancing a lot and then either driving around talking or getting something to eat before finally heading home to our families.

To this day Rick Astley is still my favorite singer, Molly Ringwald looks amazing and the best rock and roll comes from the CD Vault by Def Leppard. Back then I remember listening to the unforgettable voice of Casey Kasem’s top 40 and dedications that sometimes made me cry, as well as trying to figure out if I could name the top song for that year on his special top 100 countdown. I will sit down and watch The Breakfast Club any time it’s on and it takes me back to that place and time when the 80′s rocked!

Last year as I planned my 20 years reunion it gave me a lot of time to think back and reflect on being a child of the 80′s. For me it was a great time to grow up and live life. Experiencing music, fashion and movies. What was once the decade of big hair and parachute pants now has been replaced with long straight hair and Capri’s. What we once referred to as thongs now means something totally different. I would never consider using product on my hair today. However there once was a time when I not only put a lot of mouse, gel and hairspray in my hair I also got my hair permed (girl you know it’s true, ooh ooh ooo).

As I depart I will leave you with some famous lines from movies of my generation.

16 Candles
What’s Happening Hot Stuff? – Long Duk Dong

Back to the Future
Marty: Oh… one other thing. If you guys ever have kids and one of them when he’s eight years old accidentally sets fire to the living room rug… go easy on him.

Footloose
Ren: Ecclesiastes assures us… that there is a time for every purpose under heaven. A time to laugh… and a time to weep. A time to mourn… and there is a time to dance. And there was a time for this law, but not anymore. See, this is our time to dance. It is our way of celebrating life. It’s the way it was in the beginning. It’s the way it’s always been. It’s the way it should be now.

BILL & TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE
Keanu Reeves: “Be excellent to each other & party on dudes!”

THE BREAKFAST CLUB,
Judd Nelson: “Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?”
Emilio Estevez: “Two hits, me hitting you, you hitting the floor.”
Judd Nelson: “I wanna be just like you. I figure all I need is a lobotomy and some tights.”

CAN’T BUY ME LOVE
Amanda Peterson: “Our little plan worked, didn’t it, Ronald!”

SAY ANYTHING
John Cusack: “I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought or processed. Or repair anything sold, bought or processed, y’know? As a career I don’t want to do that. So, my father’s in the army, he wants me to join, but I can’t work for that corporation. So what I’ve been doing lately is kickboxing. ‘

FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF
Ferris Bueller: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop & look around once in a while you could miss it”.

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