Totally Awesome Flashback

"Take a chill pill, Mom!"

If hearing this phrase elicits visions of Pac-Man, Cabbage Patch Kids, side ponytails, jelly shoes, puff paint sweatshirts, Swatch watches, Trapper Keepers (my fave was the sky blue one with the clouds and rainbow), oversized boom boxes, and Cyndi Lauper, then you were definitely my friend and sister of the '80s. I absolutely adored the 1980s. I loved every minute of those high-flying ten years...the fashion, trinkets, toys, glamour, music, and of course, the big haired rock band videos from the forbidden playland known as MTV (weren't the Nelson twins the yummiest?).

I was listening to KSTAR 1400 am radio this morning (the only station I get in my office), and immediately, I was transported into another time and dimension. As memories came flooding back, my hair began crimping, my mascara took on a glittery hue, and my Provo College white polo transformed into a wicked, neon pink blouse with matching rubber bracelets and three layers of coordinating slouch socks.

Psyche! I had you going, didn't I? Even I am not that rad. My hair is still stick straight and my shirt is still boring white. But I digress...



An old Bee Gees tune, written for Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, came streaming through the static-filled airwaves of my six foot cubicle. A smile crossed my lips and I was instantly enlightened to a subliminal notion that an "ode to the '80s" was in my blogging future! Surely, friends, you remember the anticipation of the LP release of Islands in the Stream, a number one hit for the country duo back in the totally tubular times of 1982.

My mind relives the day when the Name girls' glass terrarium-sized piggy bank (yes, my parents actually had terrariums in the living room) was full enough to take to the bank in exchange for cold, hard cash. My sisters and I had been saving our pennies to purchase two majorly hot 45s, Islands in the Stream and Thriller. Excitement to the max does not even begin to describe our high when the coin counter tallied our savings and there was a whopping $21 in the glass tank! My mom told us we would have to split the money and share the items we decided to purchase. After a pit stop at Burger King, Mom drove us to the mall to peruse endless rows of new, shiny half-sized records. I vaguely remember my youngest sister Andi protesting the selection, not appreciating the musical splendor that is Kenny and Dolly, and after intense negotiations, Mom mediated the bribe so Ang and I could get our first picks.

Upon returning home, I lugged my "high-def" briefcase-toting apple red record player from my second story bedroom and placed it upon our medieval looking coffee table. For the rest of the Saturday, (and I can only imagine to my mother's tolerant sanity), the girls and I repetitiously played those two little records. Ang and I danced around the living room, achieving new heights of vocal acuity, feeling all degrees of happiness.

Ah, the simple pleasures of youth. Thanks to Kenny, Dolly, and Michael for enhancing a colorfully eclectic and imaginative childhood. For many reasons, 1982 was a memorable year for me, and I treasure these memories as one of the best times in a young girl's life. Although I have moved on from wearing spandex and leg warmers in public, I still enjoy the jolt of nostalgia each '80s tune sparks in my aging body. Long live everything '80s...music, chill pills, and spoon gagging, providing exception, of course, for the grodie feathered hair clips. Always remember, friends, peacocks and hair do not mix!