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    • Friends, this is one of the best emails of all time.
    If you were born between 1965 and 1977 (give or take a
    year or two) you will certainly enjoy this as much as
    I did. Don't skip a line.

    I am a child of the 70's & 80's. That is what I
    prefer to be called. The 90's can do without me.
    Grunge isn't here to stay, fashion is fickle and
    "Generation X" is a myth created by some over-40
    writer trying to figure out why people wear flannel in
    the summer.

    When I got home from school, I played Atari 2600. I
    spent hours playing Pitfall or Combat or Breakout or
    Frogger. I never did beat Asteriods. Then I watched
    Scooby-Doo. Daphne was a goddess, and I thought
    Shaggy was smoking something synthetic in the back of
    the MysteryMachine. I HATED SCRAPPY.

    I would sleep over at friend's houses on the weekends.
    We played army with G I Joe figures, and I set up
    galatic wars between Autobots and Decepticons. We
    never beat Rubik's cube, unless you count taking off
    the stickers. I got up on Saturday mornings at 6am to
    watch bad Hanna-Barbera cartoons like "The Snorks",
    "Jabberjaw", "Captain Caveman", and"SpaceGhost". In
    between I would watch SchoolHouse Rock (Conjunction
    junction, what's your function?)

    On Friday night, Daisy Duke was my future wife. Did
    your Dad turn from mild-mannered Bill Bixby into the
    "Incredible Hulk" when he got upset? At the movies
    the Nerds got revenge on the Alpha Betas by teaming up
    with the Omega Mu's. I watched Indiana Jones save the
    Ark of Covenant.

    I wondered what Yoda meant when he said, "No, there
    is another".

    Ronald Reagan was cool. Gorbachev was the guy who
    built a McDonalds in Moscow. My family took vacations
    to South Florida and collected Muppet Movie Glasses
    along the way (we had the whole set). My siblings and
    I fought in the back seat. At the hotel, we found
    creative uses for Connect Four pieces.

    I listened to John Cougar Mellencamp sing about Pink
    Houses and Jack & Diane. I was bewildered by Boy
    George. I was a "Wild Boy" for Duran Duran. MTV
    actually played music videos. Nickelodeon played "You
    Can't Do That On Television". HBO showed Mike Tyson
    pummel everybody except Robin Givens.

    I drank Dr Pepper. I'm a Pepper, you're a Pepper,
    wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too? Shasta was for
    losers. Tab was a laboratory accident. Capri Sun was
    a social statement. Orange Juice wasn't just for
    breakfast anymore. Bacon had to move over for
    something leaner. My mom put a thousand Little Debbie
    snack cakes in my Charlie Brown Lunchbox and our world
    was the backyard and it was all you needed.

    With your pink portable tape player, Debbie Gibson
    sang back up to you. Everyone wanted a skirt like the
    material girl and a glove like Michael Jackson.
    Today, we are the ones who sing along with Bruce
    Springsteen and the Bangles perfectly and have no idea
    why. We recite lines from Ghostbusters and still look
    to the Goonies for a Great adventure. We flip
    through T V stations and stop at the A-Team and Knight
    Rider and Fame and laugh with the Cosby Show and
    Family Ties. "Whatyou talkin' about Willis?"

    We hold strong affection for the Muppets and Gummy
    Bears and why did they take the Smurf's off the air?
    Afterschool Specials were about cigarettes and
    step-families. The Polka Dot Door was nothing like
    Barney. Aren't the Power Rangers just Voltran
    reincarnated? We are the ones who still read Nancy
    Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Bobbsey Twins, Beverly
    Cleary and Judy Blume.

    Friendship bracelets were ties you couldn't break and
    friendship pins went on shoes. Pegged jeans were in,
    as were unit belts and layered socks and jean jackets
    and JAMS and charm necklaces and side pony tails.
    Rave was a girl's best friend; braces with colored
    rubberbands made you rad.

    The back door was always open and Mom served only the
    red kool-aid to the neighborhood kids. You never
    drank the New Coke.

    Entertainment was cheap and lasted for hours. All you
    needed to be a princess was high heels and an apron.
    The Sit'n'spin always made you dizzy, but never made
    you stop. Pogoballs were dangerous weapons, and
    Chinese Jump ropes never failed to trip someone.

    In your Underoos you were Wonder Woman, Spider Man or
    R2D2. In your treehouse, you were king. In the 80's
    nothing was wrong. Did you know the president was
    shot? Did you see the Challenger explode or feed a
    homeless man? We forgot Vietnam and watched Tiananmen
    Square on CNN.

    We didn't start the fire Billy Joel.

    In the 80's we redefined the American Dream, and those
    years defined us. We are the generation in between
    strife and facing strife and turning our backs. The
    80's may have made us idealistic, but it's that
    idealism that will push us and be passed to our
    children-the children of the 21st Century. We had
    neighborhoods where in the day we could play
    kick-the-can, ring-o-levio, "guns", and all of the
    things that made us "Grownup".

    There was always that one field that could be used for
    either baseball,football, or just a place to hang out.
    That was my field of dreams, Mr. Costner. At night we
    would play flashlight tag, and we could trick-or-treat
    at night without the fear of being killed. We loved
    orange race tracks...that was until our mother
    realized she could smack us with them.

    We collected Cabbage Patch kids, and their ugly
    offspring Garbage Pail kids. We collected football &
    baseball cards, but it was because we wanted to be
    the first in the neighborhood the have the complete
    set. We playedwith He-Man and Skelator. Going to get
    a Happy Meal on Saturday with Mom or Dad was worth
    waiting the
    other six days of the week. Was Green Lantern the
    coolest superhero or Aquaman? "Wonder-twin powers
    activate!"

    "Hey, my mom will take if your mom picks up!"

    This is what growing up in the 70's & 80's was all
    about! So if you are reading this and it ALL hits
    home then you do indeed have a heritage or a
    generation. This is what makes us the most unique
    generation of all.