Can we talk?

What were you doing 20 years ago?

  My young friend, Anthony, whom I met through WDC, posed the question a day or so ago to his friends. It struck me as a good one for anyone over 20 years old. Yes, we have changed in our life circumstances, health, and so forth, but the world has changed, too.

    So I pass the question on to anyone who reads this. What were you doing as 1991 drew to a close? Were you in college, starting a family, starting over after some big change, retiring? What styles did you like, what music did you personally play, what were your hobbies? What was your  view of the world? Did other people know you liked to write?

    For me, my income had stopped climbing and I was living away from all family because my job moved me. My company had downsized, and it was apparent the career into which I had invested all my time and energy was going to disappear soon. I wasn't married and had been told not to have children due to my health risks. The college degree was just a memory, and the future looked bleak. Looking back I know it was just a rough patch (it got worse before it got better), but at the time all my dreams were gone.

    There were no cell phones, no Internet, no dish TV. I could ride to DC in an hour from my driveway and be on Pennsylvania Avenue. If lucky, you could find a parking space near the White House. You could still find a hardware store in any town, walk in and have a clerk find exactly what you wanted, like loose screws or wire--no prepackaged things hanging on hooks in a long aisle. There were still downtown movie theaters and department stores. Women's shoes were still comfortable, even stylish ones. There were no coffee shop chains, LP's were still available, as were a few 8-tracks, although cassettes were the more popular form of music.

    In the area where I lived, halfway between the state capital and the nation's capital, there was a proliferation of trucks with gun racks, everyone loved NASCAR, even the old ladies at church. Plaid shirts for men were seen everywhere, and the dress code was rather limited unlike my hometown which is a university town.What I didn't realize was that people were beginning to flood into the area and within 10-15 years, the population would triple, the forests, golf courses, and farms would become huge shopping and entertainment areas. and battlefields would become subdivisions and schools. The traffic would become a nightmare, and it took longer and longer each year to arrive at the same destination. Forget taking the car into DC; catch the monorail now.

    Whatever your age or where you are, tell me how things were back then.