Issue date: 10/16/08 Section: Editorials

Do you remember the good ole' days when your biggest worry was who could catch the most lightning bugs? The days of playing running bases and swimming all summer long.

Then I entered first grade, the year of Power Ranger birthday parties. I'm pretty sure this is when I first learned about romance. I wanted to see Tommy and Kimberly get married so badly. I probably had dreams that I was the flower girl.

During second grade, the biggest fad was penguins in my classroom. I'm pretty sure this was the year Beanie Babies came out. I definitely had over 100 Beanies and thinking about that now, at $5 apiece, that was $500 plus.

The next few years, I discovered "Full House," Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, the Spice Girls and the Backstreet Boys. I'm starting to wonder how much these early interests really affected who I am today.

During these years, I also started playing basketball and loved "Space Jam." I will still rock out to any R. Kelly song, especially "I Believe I Can Fly."

Fifth grade was when things got complicated: gel pens became popular. It was all about those pens that wrote in silver, but turned pink, purple, green and blue when you erased it. I mean, life couldn't get any better… right?

Wrong. "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" on ABC's TGIF and waking up Saturday morning at 7 for "Recess," "Pepper Ann" (Pepper Ann, she's still cool for 7th grade) and "Doug." "OO EE OO, Killer Tofu."

I almost forgot Sega. Sega Genesis put my big gray Game Boy to shame. "Paperboy," "Road Rash," "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," "Toy Story," and last but not least - "Mortal Kombat." Were Scorpion, Reptile and Sub Zero brothers? I still ponder the though to this day.

Pokemon. Squirtle, Mew, Snorlax, Meowth, all 151 of them. Between Pokemon and WWF Raw, I was livin' the life. Nothing could bring me down.

If I was lucky I would lose a tooth and get $5, which was like having a 100 dollar bill.

Here's where I have a confession: I was a mallrat. Not only was I a mallrat, but I was proud to be a mallrat. Once I got to junior high, there was no turning back. Limited Too clothing was no longer cool but I could get into PG-13 movies.

These memories are about the simplicity and happiness we had as children. We weren't ignorant, just innocent.

What happened to it? It seems like every day I wish I could go back more and more. Ten years ago, when I woke up to go to school my biggest goal was for the clock to strike 3:00 so I could go home and watch "Rocko's Modern Life" and "Catdog" while eating a Flintstones pushpop.

Continued...

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