Tag: 80s

The Reese’s frisbee

It was an ordinary summer in 1983, and I was in the backseat as we drove back from my family’s annual beach vacation. And the closer we got to being home, the more anxious I got. I was finally about to find something out:

Had I won that Reese’s Cups frisbee?

See….in the early and mid ’80s, it was common for name brand snack products to have contests and prizes w/ game pieces in every product. The possibilities seemed endless. You could win $5 (the most I ever did), $5000, a stove, a frisbee, and so many other goodies.

I loved that stuff.

And often, you had to get both “halves” of a prize to win it. I knew I’d gotten one half of the frisbee earlier, and I got another frisbee half piece while we were on vacation. But I couldn’t remember if it were the opposite half or not.

That was all that mattered at the moment. Because I didn’t have another care in the world.

Because it was before my hellish teen years. Before I spent my (otherwise great) college years with a pain that I couldn’t shake yet. And before I spent the last almost 30 years and counting dealing with depression.

I was eight. Life was easy and with no worries.

And at this point, it’s hard to fathom how that was ever the case. But it was.

And I still remember it vividly. I was already an antsy enough traveler as it was at that age, but the anticipation of uncovering my possible jackpot of frisbee heaven made those final hours on the road seem even longer.

We finally made it back. Before I did anything else, I ran in the house to check “my” drawer that contained all my irreplaceable valuables. The other frisbee game piece was waiting.

It was the same half.

I wasn’t even that surprised, because I’d had a nagging suspicion the whole time that I hadn’t won it. But still, it was disappointing.

Despite this unthinkable life setback, the next day still came. And I woke up ready for it. Happy, emotionally healthy, and ready to move on.

Something that I haven’t felt for almost 40 years now.

The ’80s flashback train

All aboard. Travel back in time.

This is probably not the healthiest thing for me to do (since I already live too much in the past). But to try and pass some of the time until I leave the family’s house, which will now be after Christmas, I thought I’d blog about every year of my ’80s childhood here. It’s hard not to reminisce when you’re in the house where you grew up.

1980

All anyone wanted to do was listen to “Funkytown” on the radio. We had just moved a few streets down to a new house, so I was getting used to all the kids there. One of the first things to happen was the girl two doors down charging me a dime to come in her clubhouse.

(living here was gonna be quite expensive for a six year old, eh)……

And that wasn’t my first introduction that year to the upcoming challenges of childhood.

I was in first grade, and my teacher brilliantly came to the conclusion that because I could read, do math, and shoot hoops well, that meant I could do anything right. So whenever I did something wrong or stepped out of line, I was punished like I should do better (I couldn’t) or know better (I didn’t.) Despite the fact that I was not a kid who got in trouble much at all.

Apparently she thought that a six year old with some potential should already know everything about life. Not exactly the hallmark of a wise grade school teaching veteran.

Soooo, I got to know the area behind the “screen” pretty well. This was where you were sent as punishment. Once this even happened after another kid flat-out lied about me running around the room while she was gone. Without even listening to me or believing my side (and one thing I did NOT do back then was lie), there I was behind that damn thing again.

That may have been the first time I thought “what the hell??”. When it came to experiencing how unreasonable people could be, I learned pretty early.

But things would improve. The following year would bring my first crush.

To be continued.