Guest Post: Shannon, of Radio Chick’s Reflections, on the 80s

photo credit: kenleewrites via photopin cc

Shannon Adams is what you might call a slave to fashion.

Well, she was. Today, she’s a mom and a teacher, and a part-time DJ. But back in the day, she admitted on this very blog, she wore her overalls backward. To be cool. (If you didn’t live through the 80s, you’ll never understand.)

I can say that I never wore overalls, let alone backward.

I wasn’t nearly as cool as Shannon. I was the only kid in my school who liked Hall & Oates. I had the Big! Bang! Boom! tour shirt to prove it. We might not have run in the same circles during that golden decade, but Shannon and I both rocked the 80s. Ish.

Shannon’s here to talk about the 80s today.

When you’re done marveling at the words and especially the photos, be sure to check out her space, Radio Chick’s Reflections. She’s a wonderful mom and can spin a tale. I always seemed to post my blog next to hers in the Ketchup With Us linkup.

Lucky me. Luck you, today. Please welcome Shannon to the CD.

I’m honoured to do a guest post for my friend Eli, better known as Coach Daddy, for his blog.  We threw around some ideas about the topic of this particular blog post, and we decided that it should be about my favourite decade.

It was the decade of big hair (oh how I wish I could get mine as big as Tina’s),

John Hughes movies (nobody was cooler than the Brat Pack),

male musicians with lots of makeup (how pretty were they??!),

and profound song lyrics like “I just can’t shake your love” (sorry, Debbie).

Any guesses about which decade I’m referring to?

Okay, here’s another hint.  One of the biggest stars not only went back to the future on the big screen, but was also known as preppy and conservative Alex P. Keaton on “Family Ties.” And he was a heartthrob. My heartthrob. His posters adorned the walls of my bedroom. I even paid to get a picture taken with him – okay, not REALLY him, but a cardboard cutout of him (!) – at Expo ’86 here in Canada.  Here’s the proof.

Kind of weird, I admit. But he kind of looks real, doesn’t he? Okay. Not even slightly.  But it was fun to do. And it was the closest I would ever get to my heartthrob, Michael J. Fox.

It was the 1980s.  I was born in the 1970s – NO, I am not telling you which year! – and so the ’80s were my childhood years.  They were the years of just being a kid.  No pressure.  Carefree times.  Bike riding all summer on the country roads where I lived, selling lemonade on those same country roads (and almost peeing my pants because A CAR – yes, just one – actually stopped to buy some), playing hide and seek in the cornfield, and having sleepovers.

(My friends are going to KILL ME for posting this picture!)

It was a time for having fun with friends, with nothing more to do than build forts, play with our dolls, and dance along to the songs on the “Footloose” record we all owned.  Back then I didn’t care what I looked like (clearly, from the picture above and that terrible perm!), especially when I was dancing crazily to “Let’s Hear it for the Boy”.

It was also a time for dreaming big dreams.  Anything seemed possible for me in the ’80s.  And I had big plans:  I was going to be a famous singer, I was also going to be a journalist – possibly the next Barbara Walters – and a writer, with a house in the country as well as a fancy apartment in the city.  The options were endless.  The opportunities plentiful.  That’s definitely one reason why the 1980s were some of my favourite years.  Who doesn’t love the feeling of no limitations?  Didn’t it seem like anything was possible?  I mean, if Samantha Baker could end up with her dreamboat Jake (“Sixteen Candles” reference…I was OBSESSED with John Hughes movies), anything could happen!  I have to add that the movies of the 1980s also made me a hopeless romantic with wildly high expectations of men.  Oh, to find a man like Lloyd Dobler (“Say Anything” reference) who would relentlessly chase me and hold a gigantic boombox outside my house, blaring Peter Gabriel…Swoon…

And though I did not become a famous singer, and I did not become the next Barbara Walters, having my “the sky is the limit” attitude that I adopted in 1980s has gotten me exactly where I want to be now:  married to a wonderful guy, mom to the sweetest little people, positively influencing young minds as a high school teacher, entertaining radio listeners, and still setting goals and working to reach them.