Life in the '80s

To my loving parents, I say "Thank you."

As kids of the '80s, my brother and sister and I didn't get new toys or books unless it was Christmas or a birthday. We never went out to eat. We didn't have our own phone line. We had one bathroom and one console TV to share among 5 family members. Our parents didn't buy us Air Jordan shoes or Guess jeans. They encouraged us to save our own money to buy these things ourselves. We ate our meals together at the kitchen table. We took utmost care of the Strawberry Shortcake dolls and the electronic Speak & Spell that were given to us at Christmas. We cherished what we had!

You'd probably agree that things have changed since then. Parents now tend to sacrifice all they can to put their kids' wants ahead of everything else. MP3s. Laptop computers. Smart phones. iPods. iPads. iTunes. Wiis. XBox. PlayStations. Lessons of all kinds. Designer clothes from infancy. Priorties are not the same. These days, if you'd meet a family like the one I grew up in, you'd assume we were dealing with extreme financial hardships or parents who didn't love us!

But they so clearly did! Where they sacrificed was in providing us every educational, historical, and cultural experience they could think of. Exchange students from West Germany, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Germany. Vacations together in the family van to historic sites like Mt. Rushmore, Washington D.C., Niagra Falls, the Grand Canyon, and state parks around the country. My parents knew how to plan a memorable and educational trip.

Sadly, when I graduated from high school, I realized any future family vacations with my mom and dad were numbered. Honestly, that's been one of the worst parts of growing up for me. Despite my inevitable road sickness and the typical family squabble in that stinky van, I loved our family vacations!

So, again I say "Thank you" to my most-amazing parenting mentors. My mom and dad. My gratitude comes far too late, but is sincere.

(This particularly nostalgic moment was inspired by my thoughts on blogging our 2012 summer vacation with my mom and dad. They invited DT and I to explore IN and KY with them in June, Huber-style. And we loved it. Pictures and special moments to follow.)