A guest post by Athena from The BlissQuest
I’m settling down with a glass of wine, St. Chapelle a Riesling and crawling in to bed to watch Big Trouble in Little China. Quite possibly one of my favorite Kurt Russell movies – ever. Well, that and Overboard.
When I saw the first time I was like 8 or 9 and I was sure when I got old enough – like 12ish Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) would come rescue me from Lo Pan because I had green eyes and obviously that meant I was doomed to be a victim of Lo Pan’s evil marriage plans. Until then I imagined I would hang around with Kim Cattrall and we’d talk about things like puppies and how much school sucked.
I was a child of the 80’s. I watched smurfs and wore jellies, I had sisters with bangs that scraped the ceiling and a brother who turned up the collar of his polo. I played dress up with blue eye shadow and danced around the house to Janet Jackson and what’s-her-name from American Idol. My siblings all wore parachute pants and knew the steps to Thriller while I mostly played sports and made up fantasy worlds.
I survived the eighties and Strawberry Shortcake and Rainbow Brite and swore I would never look back.
But over the last couple years the re-constitution of the 80’s hit – the looming 30’s of the 80’s children has brought to life a fond reminiscence of the most schizophrenic decade of the previous century- and all that was ungodly horrid in the fashion came back with burning pride.
I find myself missing Pappa Smurf, the Battle Cats and all the other movies and entertainment that was my nanny through the years.
I don’t know if it’s like a new phase of aging but I miss movies like Big Trouble in Little China like I miss being able to build blanket forts in the living room. I miss walking through mud puddles in my blue jellies as much as I miss Saturday morning cartoons and pouring too much cinnamon and sugar on my toast.
So, I’m coming to terms with the fact that I may be missing my childhood. I might actually be subconsciously longing for the “days of innocence” as I surf youtube for cartoon clips of Rainbow Brite and My Little Pony. I’ve been really excited about turning 30 next year, but maybe I’m also starting to worry. Maybe I’m just slow to realize how awesome the 80’s really were. Maybe I didn’t think they rocked at the time, and maybe I still wouldn’t be caught dead with mushroom bangs – but the longing is there and I can’t quite put my finger on it.
Therefore I will indulge it. I may just go build a blanket fort in the living room, have some cinnamon sugar toast and watch some cartoons.
But for now, I think a glass of wine and some Jack Burton fantasies will hold me over for awhile.
Is this what a pre-thirty crisis looks like?