Before I could believe it I my daughters were in middle and high school. That’s when time really moved fast and I had to keep track of our schedules like an air traffic controller. There were after school extracurricular events, music, dance and voice lessons, school events, weekly football games and performances. With both girls taking advanced classes we were all up until late at night studying, doing homework, and keeping up with the always growing piles of laundry. Luckily we were not plagued with illnesses and deaths as much as we had been in the past. Even my mother’s mental difficulties seemed to appear less often. Thus we were able to have lots of fun at work, school and home.
Our house was filled with young people all of the time and began to feel more and more crowded. The one bathroom that we had was not working so well with so many females attempting to style their hair and put on lovely faces each morning, so we decided to remodel the places and add more rooms and storage space. The results were phenomenal and made entertaining so much better which was great because we always seemed to be celebrating something or just chilling with friends.
MTV with all of its visual music somehow became a constant in our home and I have to admit that I did not mind it at all. While I had a teenager I was only thirty five years old and just as excited about the eighties music and movies as my girls were. We’d dance in our new great room and when the television was not on the sounds of eighties music blared from our stereo system. We had a collection of LPs and CDs that was enormous and ran the gamut of classics from the sixties to symphonies to the latest hits from Depeche Mode and Michael Jackson. I even cleaned house on Saturday mornings with Madonna and Prince serenading in the background.
We had girl nights with our friend, Pat, and her daughter Lisa that usually involved going to movies like The Breakfast Club or Pretty In Pink. They were the kind of films that our husbands would not be caught dead watching, but that we found to be wonderfully entertaining. Pat was a free spirit who often insisted that we visit the 59 Diner after a movie where we ordered milkshakes and cheesy fries. We were so young and energetic that we didn’t even gain weight from our foodie binges.
After satisfying our appetites we often wandered across the street to a huge music store that stayed open until midnight. We’d wander up and down the aisles perusing all of the titles and listening to the featured albums playing over the speakers. We never failed to leave without purchasing something new to add to our collections and we chattered like magpies as we discussed the fun that we had enjoyed and made plans for the our next weekend adventures.
Football games were really fun. Maryellen was one of the Janette Dancers at South Houston High School and the halftime performances were always so good. Even better was the gathering of parents who always sat in the same places each week allowing us to find them without any trouble. We bonded over those games and became good friends much as our children were doing as well. Catherine performed in the middle school choir and began to demonstrate an interest and aptitude in science. She became a favorite student among the science department teachers who trusted her to help them set up labs and care for equipment. She was the star in our Leave It To Beaver life in the eighties with her best friend, Traci, practically living at our house.
Mike rocked along with this very feminine household. If he longed for some male companionship he never let on. He was proud of his girls and even taught them computer skills and how to repair things. He puffed up with pride at the mere mention of them. They were his “Minnie” and “Pookie” who were becoming exactly the kind of people that we had hoped they would be.
The only mars on this time of our lives were the deaths of my grandfather and my beloved Uncle Jack. I have already spoken of how difficult it was to lose Grandpa Little. I don’t think I’ve ever recovered, but the loss of Uncle Jack was a great blow as well. He was the person who had helped us the most when our father died. He found a good car for us and made sure that we purchased a great house as well. He was the man who introduced me to westerns on television and knew how to relate to kids better than anyone I had ever met. I loved him dearly and even had a strange premonition before his death.
I was driving home from work one day when I suddenly felt the need to visit Gulfgate Mall. I walked into the Sakowitz store and wandered aimlessly among the ladies dresses. I suppose that I must have looked a bit strange because a saleslady approached me to find out if I needed help. I looked at her rather dazed and announced that I needed a nice black dress. When she asked where I would be wearing it I did not hesitate to say that I needed it for a funeral. She very sweetly inquired who had died and I told her that nobody was yet gone but I had a feeling that I would nonetheless need the dress soon. The two of us found a very nice outfit and I took it home feeling as puzzled as the clerk must have been. A day or so later we got a phone call announcing that Uncle Jack was in critical condition. A few days later he died. I suppose that in some ways his spirit and mine were intertwined. My mother felt that I had just been very observant and had somehow seen that he was not as well as we all thought he had been. Whatever it was I knew that he had taught me so much about being helpful and happy.
Aside from the deaths of the two great men who had made such an enormous impact on my life I would have to admit that the rest of those eighties were a long wonderful celebration of good times for our family. My brothers were doing well in their careers and with their wives and children and life was less rocky and challenging than it had been in the past. I suppose that almost everything associated with that time still makes me smile. Even with the silly clothes and hardos it was a welcome break from troubles that allowed us all to grow in the confidence that we were all headed along the right pathway of life.
All It Takes Is A Little Love 