I was thinking about the year 1984 and what I was doing where I was living, who I was married to (unfortunately) and all the changes that have happened since then.
I found out I was pregnant the morning of my marriage, to he who shall remain nameless. Pretty sure I was happier about the pregnancy more so than the wedding, but I made my choice and have moved on well and truly since then. We lived in a town called Faulconbridge in the Blue Mountains of NSW. We rented a house from an old workmate of he who shall remain nameless, and it was a really cool house. Naturally that didn't last as he couldn't maintain a friendship with anyone for longer than 5 minutes, and we moved to a caravan in the backyard of his parents house in Blaxland. Not something I'd recommend to any pregnant woman, caravans are not built for pregnancy especially when it has no toilet.
Luckily we were only there for a few months, and as I was working I wasn't stuck in it all day. We moved to a 2 bedroom flat above some shops, just up the road. For the first 3 months we lived there, I didn't actually see a single step, and yet there was 2 flights of them to get to our flat. I worked at the Blue Mountains City Council in Katoomba, and drove to work everyday.
We didn't have a cordless phone, or a mobile phone. We didn't have a flat screen tv, and we thought we were pretty lucky to have a frost free fridge. We had a betamax video recorder, the remote was actually attached to it with a long cord, so not really a remote. Not long before I gave birth, the dickhead sold the car we owned free and clear to go into debt for a piece of shit that he seemed to think was better. Whatever, we all know he was a and is a dick. We had records, not CDs, no walkmans even for us. We thought we were pretty cool cause we had a cassette player in the car, rather than an 8 track which we had in a previous car.
After I had Tara, I used cloth nappies, disposables were around, but not the best. I didn't have a baby capsule, instead she was in a bassinet in the back seat, with a net over it. I presume that was to catch her LOL. She did end up in a capsule, but not till they became compulsory. I can't believe that that belt of velcro was considered strong enough to hold a baby in place.
The 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was on that year, I spent many a night watching from my place on the couch while I was up feeding her. I think that I watched more of the Olympics than I had ever previously, or since, watched. I watched the launch of the first Space Shuttle, over and over again. Worst thing about not having cable was we didn't have many TV stations LOL. "Do they know it's Christmas" was recorded, and played over and over. The first CDs were made, Apple introduced us all to the Mac, Genetic fingerprinting was developed, and we were all still wearing those awesome 80s fashions.
- Ghostbusters
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
- Gremlins
- Beverly Hills Cop
- Terms of Endearment
- The Karate Kid
- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
- Police Academy
- Romancing the Stone
- Splash
- The Terminator
- Amadeus
- The Killing Fields
- A Passage To India
- Magnum, P.I.
- Dynasty
- Entertainment Tonight
- Falcon Crest
- Hill Street Blues
- Cagney and Lacey
- Cheers
- Fame
- Knight Rider
- The A-Team
- Jeopardy!
Geez what a list, not much to choose from with either of them LOL.
The world has come a long way since then. I'm typing this on my home pc, and it isn't the size of a room. I'm charging my touch screen mobile and the flat screen tv is on in the background, loading a DVD to watch tonight.
Tara has also come along way from that cute little baby who woke up like clockwork for her 4 hourly feeds, could never wake her earlier LOL. From the little girl going to school for the first time, and flash forward to the little girl leaving school after Year 10. To her getting her first job, to her boyfriends, to her tears, to her tantrums, to her laughter, to her love, to getting married, to her first child, to buying a home, to buying a business, to having a second child, to a new house, to an online business, wow, you've come a long way baby and I couldn't be prouder.
The only I could criticise is that you continue to get older, which means I have to get older LOL.
Love you Tara with all my heart, Happy Birthday xxxx
