DISCLAIMER: OK..so before I get all deep in the 80′s groove of things let me start by stating that I am not reflecting on nor mentioning any politics because, frankly, at that age I neither cared nor knew much of anything about the subject. Now on to the good stuff…
For some reason recently I have been reminiscing parts of the 80′s from my youth hood. Don’t ask..and no, the fashion was not one of them. I do not necessarily miss the tall socks with the three thick color bands around the top, nor do I miss the part in the side of my thick afro hair. Some of you may not miss that 80′s British rock fashion either.? Those of us that were children in the 80′s miss different facets of the 80′s however we may agree on a few favorites.
1980′s TV & Games
I remember how happy my childhood was (well in my mind anyways) and I believe it had to do with the cool cartoons and TV shows. My ultimate favorite cartoon was He-Man. I remember after I watched it I would go outside and play in the yard…(what a huge South Virginian country yard it was)..and pretend I was He-Man. I put a twist on my version though..I got my power from the Sun. Guess I got my heroes mixed up..ehem. While we’re on the subject of cartoons, we all know what group of cartoons that we just could not wait to get up in the morning for. SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS!!! Woohooo! Most definitely. I get a cheesy grin just thinking about it. Hey remember almost every cartoon or show had some moral at the end? From G.I. Joe to Inspector Gadget. Wow! what a difference from today’s cartoons. Remember that one show called Prior’s Place? Why am I the only one that remembers that? 
As far as TV dramas or sitcoms go, my favorites were Different Strokes, Silver Spoons, Webster and many others. I even used to watch Peoples Court, not by choice though..you know how your parents had control of the tube at a certain time of night. There is one show in particular that I liked probably because I identified with the theme of the show, Punk Brewster. I too was a foster child at that time , so that one detail is probably what drew me to it. I cannot forget FAME, that was another one of my favorites. I still remember that one episode they did (maybe it was a halloween episode), their take on the Wizard of OZ…cool stuff. B)
1980′s Music
Michael Jackson, Cindy Lauper, Madonna, Prince, Tears for Fears, Aha, Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine, Billy Joel, The Pep Shop Boys, LL Cool J, Run DMC, The Fat Boys…need I go on? This list can get rather long. If you had the privledge of cable then you know MTV was rocking them (back when MTV actually played music videos). I remember the very first song I heard on this AM/FM walkman when I was like 5 or 6 yrs old. It was Cindy Lauper’s song “Time After Time”. Of course, I didn’t understand the theme being so young, but it was still a nice tune and to this day everytime I hear it I think about that moment. Those were pleasant times back when I was in my foster home. I remember my foster brother teaching to breakdance in the room. We had this large cardboard box all laid out and I was learning the windmill. I also remember doing some moves using vinyl jackets in order to spin on the carpet….crazy….
1980′s Toys
As you read earlier in this post, one of my favorite cartoons was He-Man. So,no doubt, my favorite toys were He-Man action figures. I even had Snake Mountain (Skeletor’s fortress)..oddly you would have thought I owned Castle Greyskull which was He-Man’s fortress. One of my other favorite toys was this Dukes of Hazzard car. Remember those throw-area rugs with the East Indian-like designs? Well I used to push my Dukes of Hazzard car around the rug in between the rectangular pattern, pretending it was the road. Of? course there was no Dukes of Hazzard fun with out the jumping and YEEEEEHAAA! 
What about outdoors? I remember in the 80′s I had a Big Wheel. That was the ultimate…man I use to ride all over the yard with that. It had this pocket in the back which is where I used to put my kittens in and take for a ride (wow, hope I don’t get in trouble for that this many years later). I remember the Rubix Cube which also had a Cartoon. I also remember those miniature (not quite handheld)? arcade games such as Galaga, Centipede and Pac-Man. It was all about the arcade.. and of course ATARI! What fun times.
This post can go on for days on what I miss or what we all may miss about the 80′s. One thing is for sure, whether it be for the good or the bad, there may be some aspect from that era we may all reflect back on and then compare to where we are now and the path we took to get here.
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