Wow…
I have had opportunity to reminisce several times this week. Once was last night when my daughter-in-law was talking about probably needing to go ahead and pack her bag for the hospital, but really not feeling it, and some discussion ensued, which zapped me back anywhere from 20 to 29 years in the past. (Yes, a BABY bag, thank you very much. I am going to be a biological grandmother soon.) The title “Grandma” doesn’t bother me, as there are women all over the place a lot younger than I am that are grandmothers. Nope, I don’t think that is where this nagging feeling of becoming old is coming from…
In the TBT post I published last night I typed the following:
“It seemed like total tyranny, but having also lived through parenthood, I totally get where my parents were coming from.”
“…having also lived through parenthood…” Ouch. True story, but ouch, nonetheless. Kids are grown and gone…how weird is that? I mean, it’s been a year since the youngest moved out, but actually SEEING it in print like that…
Here is the thing that really got me, though. Michelle over at Rubber Shoes in Hell did her TBT post today. She posted a picture of herself back in 1989.
This one was probably circa 1990, but close enough – the hair was the same.
I am posting one of myself from about the same time frame. While I was reading about her picture from ’89, I was thinking about how different my own life was back then…
In 1989, I had just celebrated my second anniversary to my future second ex-husband. (That would have been June 4, so yesterday would have made 27 years, had we kept up the charade.) My eldest son would have just turned four in April. My middle and youngest sons hadn’t even been considered, yet.
I was working as a receptionist at a temp agency in Lubbock, Texas. I loved that job! I had two pets; an orange tabby named Pumpkin, and a black cat named Spooky. We moved to Clovis, NM in 1990. Spooky disappeared a couple years after that, and Pumpkin outlived the marriage by about a year. She passed in 2002.
I am on the far right and still have that dress. 🙂
I also took my first ever tropical vacation that year. We did an all-inclusive in Puerto Vallarta. Four days, three nights, I think it was. We had a neat little suite with Flintstone furniture. If I was feeling more motivated I would pull the snapshots and scan them, but I’m not, so you’ll just have to settle for this image that I’d previously scanned. It was VERY humid there (especially to us, after having flown in from the arid climate of the Texas panhandle), and my poor hair reflects that. I am pretty sauced in that picture after having done many tequila shots with the girls and their husbands and mine at the bar earlier that evening.
In 1989 I was listening to George Michael, Milli Vanilli (cringe…we didn’t know, at that time), Roxette, Poison, Mike & The Mechanics, Great White, Whitesnake, The B-52’s, and GunsNRoses. My favorite song that year was (and I STILL love this song; it’s on my Spotify playlist) was this classic from Alice Cooper:
I don’t know what it is about that song, but it has stayed with me all these years.
Fortunately, 1989 was a rather uneventful year. Had someone jogged me for 1996 or 2001, that might have been a different story.
The funny thing about me in 1989 is that I thought I was grown enough to know everything. I was 24 back then. I didn’t have a freaking clue, y’all, but today? 1989 makes me feel REALLY old. On the other side of the coin? I know what marriage really is about, now. The hubs and I have been through some shit over the past five years, and if this kind of stuff had happened to me in 1989, I would have been a basket case. From 2009 to 2014? While stressful, it has actually made my marriage to my third and final husband so much stronger. So yeah, getting older does have it’s benefits. 😉
So I guess it’s time for me to drag my tired, old ass to bed…
Until next time…
Random Musings From a Type-A Workaholic 
Ugh, this is going to sound so cheesy but I really look up to you Julie. You are smart, beautiful and you’ve had these great experiences that have shaped the awesome person you are 🙂 You have such a vibrant and enthusiastic outlook on life and that’s why we all love you. Man, I’m being all emotional tonight.
Awww, Janey! You’re gonna make me all sniffly again! 🙂 thank you!
You’re very welcome my friend 🙂
We will never be old Julie! (Love the pics!) My brother (who will be 50 on the 25th tells EVERYONE he is 25 (until he had chemo a few years ago he could actually get away with it – ha), so if he’s going to be 25 forever then I’ll always be 24, since I’ll be actually be 47 in August. lolol I think we all thought we knew everything in the 80’s (one of the best music eras!). I told a young girl recently not to forget to cut the tag off her new dress or people would think she was Minnie Pearl….she said, “Who’s that?”…..boy did I feel old! ROFL I don’t feel close to 50, but I’m glad I’m not in my 20’s anymore. I’ve learned way to much to go back there. 🙂 You’re very blessed to get to be a grandmother! 🙂
Reading this made me feel better, Lisa…Seriously. In all my years, I have never had my brain go in this direction, like…EVER, and then I watched the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction last night, and Peter Gabriel…Oh, man… 😦 It was just chewing at me last night, I guess. I’m only a couple days older than I was on Wednesday, before this whole thing came up,
And yes! A grandma! And they have Skype, so this won’t be so bad, the distance thing.
I know what you mean! I look at all those guys that were so young when we first started listening to them and see them now and I’m like…..uh, why do they look so old? They aren’t that old! I guess I still think of all of them as young because I still love all the old stuff and still picture them all at that age. So, that’s what we should do! 🙂 I don’t really mind the number part of getting older, but I do mind the gravity and wrinkles……a lot! So, here’s to being forever young, at least in our minds! 🙂
Babies grow WAY to fast, so thank goodness for Skype! At least you will have that when you can’t be there in person!
I agree…it’s funny…PHYSICALLY I feel better than I did in my 20’s, but mentally I took a hit yesterday. I’ll be over it in no time, but it just never really clicked before yesterday that I’m not a youngster anymore. I’ve been cruising through life thinking I’m still in my early thirties, not a year away from hitting the half century mark, LMAO!
You are soooo beautiful!! I absolutely love your stories and love your photos!! Hello gorgeous!!! XOXO!! Have a happy Friday!
Thanks, Kristin! The goal now is not to just make 50 look amazing, but to be a hawt grandma, LOL!!! 🙂 TGIF! ❤
YOU ARE HAWT!!!!! 🙂 🙂
Where is the little blush emoticon? LOL…thank you!
Hehe!!! 😉
Time gives us the widsom to handle crazy situations. I could not have handled the stuff I do now when I was in my twenties. No way! I loved the photos! 🙂 Ohhh, that song brings back memories. That was the soundtrack to a bachelorette video that I made for my wife for her bachelorette party. 😎 I got to meet Alice Cooper a few years back at a Halloween event in my state. He’s quite the normal guy!
I remember my mom being mortified at his makeup and my dad wanting to know what kind of guy would willingly sport the name Alice? LMAO…Love that song! Yup…with age comes wisdom. And the added ability to keep one’s mouth shut when one REALLY has a good barb to throw out there, LOL…
Listen to the song “Be my lover” and he actually talks about his name being Alice in that song. You have me curious, yet scared, about the barb. 🙂
It was just something that came up pertaining to ScrewLucy, and I felt it was probably better to leave my nasty remark unsaid. It was pretty unkind…
No worries! BTW, I love the song list. I had completely forgotten about Mike and the Mechanics.
That was good music back in the day! I was also kind of a nut about Rick Astley when he first came out. 🙂
If you mention Rick Astley again, I’m going to get some 70’s theme songs circling in your head. 😉
(: x
Not another word…I promise!~
yeah I was 13 that year, and shocked to discover two classmates were sleeping together. they thought they were soooo grown up.. 😦
13? Dang! I can’t even imagine! I was still into coloring those huge posters and listening to bubble gum pop at that age. Yeah, boys were cute and all, but overall useless at that point, LOL…
I love this. And thank you for including me.
You are so right. The shit I’ve gone through in the past 5 years would have destroyed the 26 year old me. I didn’t see it that way at all..but it’s so completely true. What a great perspective.
Michelle, your blog actually inspired this one. Thank YOU! I guess age has its privileges, and it sure as hell beats the alternative! ❤
You old hooka
Bite me. Oh, wait! You are ELEVEN (count them; one, one) days older than me!
Good Job, NanaJules!!!
In my mind I feel old. Physically? Not the nana! (Remember that show, Dinosaus? Not the mamma? Lol!)