Ah, the late ’80s. It’s difficult to characterize this time period with sweeping images that would cover this whole five-year period. I was simply changing from year to year so much that the ‘me’ of the mid-80’s had become a completely different person as the decade came to a close. I literally went from being an awkward, gawky young teen to the cusp of fatherhood within this era.
It was during this time period that I think I fully realized that I was completely obsessive about things and had a completely one-track mind when it came to my hobbies. I suppose I had always had it and most certainly still have it to this day. My first wife Lisa always said that I was in a “(fill in blank) phase”, knowing that it would eventually dissipate and a new one would take it’s place. Never more true than it still is today.
Here are the many images that are evoked when I think of this time period: heavy Sons of the Desert involvement, meeting my friend Bob, my friendship with George and Jim, seriously collecting autographs through the mail, mullets, Junior High and High School, Super 8 films, drinking and smoking, Beavercreek girls, Bellbrook girls, my paper route, working at Hardee’s, heavy metal music, my parents’ separation, learning to drive, starting work at Kroger, my ‘gang’ Heaven and Hell – with Mark, Scott, Rusty, Pineapple, Kim, Jackie, Jennifer, and Christi (who would take on a much more important role as the decade came to a close), Eco-Adventures and Youth Camp at Woodland Altars – and my camp friends Darin, Eric, Lee, and Chris, my friend Lance, and Skateworld. These are not in any specific order and I most certainly am forgetting a good number of icons from this period in which I turned from a young teenager into an (egads) man.
Read more about this eventful and very strange time of my life by following this link or jump to the beginning of any specific year below…
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