1979

I am now in California. We moved when I was two months old so technically I am a Californian, minus two months. In 1975 my brother was born, and there went my only child status. Thanks bro.

I type the year and so many memories flood my mind like a tidal wave. So many things happened in this year. Where to begin? Let’s start off with the fact I was eight and in the third grade. I was in a class that the teacher was not very good or attentive. I think she hated her life. The kids in that class, I included, were absolute terrors. We sang, acted out, and were loud and opinionated. This is probably why I never became a teacher. But she got us all back. All the kids with the exception of a few got D’s and F’s.

Valley girls were all the rage. I did live in Southern California so it was pretty much the norm. I even had a dictionary which taught you how to speak like a valley girl. To this day I still say “like” a lot! I am still mad at my eight year old self for basically giving me the valley girl tongue. “Like totally gag me with a spoon” Ugh!

Aquafresh toothpaste was the brand new kid on the block. Well with the name of Acquanetta it was a lose-lose situation for me in the tease department. Kids are evil. Again this is why I never went into teaching.

For Christmas break my dad took me and my little brother back to Louisiana to visit. School was only out for two weeks but we stayed there a month. It was the first time I ever rode the Greyhound bus and as a child of eight it was fun and exciting. Not so much now.

This is also the year I was chased by a black cat all the way to my grandma’s house. I was out playing in the mud. When you’re a kid mud is so much fun. Apparently it is a necessity for those wanting to look younger by having their bodies slathered in the stuff. Go figure. Do you know that cat, which I happened to throw mud at by the way, chased me all the way with me screaming bloody murder? And when I got to her house that dang cat stayed in front of her door for like thirty minutes. It was waiting for me, no lie. Let’s just say I learned my lesson well that day.