80s Flashback-E.T. the Extra Terrestrial

When E.T. came out in 1982, I wanted to see it. Every kid I knew wanted to see it. I lived in a rural area growing up, and people from miles around came to the one movie theater in the area. In fact, the original showing was full by the time we arrived, but they were doing a later one due to the crowds. We made the later showing, and sat on the floor. Since my sister and I were young, we didn't care. When you get older sitting on the floor is a bigger problem.

I only saw the movie that one time, and never again. I enjoyed it, but I watched it as a kid. I'm sure most of the references were over my head, and I missed subtleties that I would have picked up as an adult (for example, how did the mom manage to miss an alien in the house?). My sister asked a lot of questions and I tried to answer them as best I could. I do remember the end, and I cried a lot, it was sad when E.T. left.

Like most things from my childhood, I'm afraid of revisiting it. The ending won't be as sad, and I won't be sitting on the floor of a crowded movie theater answering questions. I liked the movie as a kid, I can't see liking it as much as an adult. I enjoy the memory the way it is.

80s Flashback-The Water Bed

In the 80s, my cousin got a water bed. Oh, I loved it so. I was jealous. Back then it was one big water chamber, and the whole bed would move. I thought it was the coolest thing ever, and I kept asking my parents for one, but to no avail.

I have to say, on this one they were right. Years ago we stayed at a friend's house, and they had a water bead. It was a one big water chamber 80s type of water bed, in fact I think it was a left over from the friend's childhood. To be fair, I don't think it was filled all the way, but this part of the problem with a water bed. Maintenance, it needs to be filled and taken care of.

My husband got in the bed, and I started going up and down on waves. At some point I did go to sleep, but then I somehow was wedged between the water bed cushion and the protective guide rails. This could be problematic for children, instead of annoying for me. I then had to re-adjust, waking up my husband. It wasn't a good night sleep.

I know water beds have improved since that time. My mom had one with individual chambers, so there was less wave action. If I tried a recent water bed I might even like it, but again, the maintenance, the water filling. I could seem them being kinder than a mattress for allergy problems, but since I don't have a big allergy problem, I'll just keep my bed.

80s Flashback-The Facts of Life

I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but I used to love The Fact of Life. I was there from the beginning, the days of Molly Ringwald and when Tootie wore skates to try to hide the fact that Kim Fields was so much shorter and younger than the rest of the cast. It started as a group of girls at a boarding school, but soon became about four young girls and Mrs. Garrett.

Jo was by far my favorite. She was a "bad girl" because she rode a motorcycle, although now that I think about it they never actually showed her riding the motorcycle, it was all off screen. She got the other three in trouble and they had to work in the school cafeteria with Mrs. Garrett to pay off the damages they did to the school van. They came from fairly well-to do parents (except Jo), especially Blair, why did they have to work it off? Wouldn't they have been bailed out? The Facts of Life work plot lines work better when you're a kid.

Jo was from the working class, Blair the rich girl, and then there were Natalie and Tootie. They weren't focused on as much, and I can't think of any defining trait of either. They were both nice girls that would deliver a joke. The show seemed to go on forever, Edna was at the school, then opened her own catering business, which makes sense, and they all moved with her, which doesn't make as much sense. After the catering business burnt down she opened a trendy store. This one doesn't make any sense either, but the store seemed to do fine no matter how the economy was. They added characters, there was a boy and even George Clooney as a young handyman. Mrs. Garrett left, her sister came in. At this point I was long gone.

I went back and watched it when I was older, and it just isn't that good of a show. Why do these four always stay together? It's like Laverne and Shirley, when all their friends and family moved with them to California. This doesn't happen in real life, no one moves when you move unless you're married with children. The plots were very formulaic and nothing really groundbreaking happened, and I can't tell you a joke from the show. Oh well, it was the 80s, and it fit in well with the times.

80s Flashback-The A-Team

I used to love the A-Team. I can still remember the theme song to this day, I even made up words to the music only theme song. Okay, so the words were me repeating "the A-Team" over and over again along with the song, but you get the idea. I also loved the spoken word introduction "...and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team."

It was an enjoyable show for a young person. It's a world where you could shoot machine guns and flip cars, yet no one got hurt. Face was my favorite, he was the con man. I didn't think he was handsome, I just liked the way he was tricky. My dad thought Howlin' Mad Murdock was funny, and Mr. T playing B.A. Baracas was the favorite of most of my classmates. This was my first introduction to George Peppard, I had no idea he had a career that included Breakfast at Tiffany's prior to this. They also had a girl character named Amy, but she didn't stick around long and truth be told I didn't really miss her, but I would ask my dad occasionally what happened to her.

I stopped watching in the second or third season. Even as a kid, it was too formulaic. The plot was the same, some person needed helped, they hired the A-Team, the A-Team got caught or goofed somehow, then B.A. would make some awesome machine gun tank or something similar and they won in the end. Throw in B.A.'s fear of flying and how they had to trick him or drug him and you had the show in a nutshell. It even included the classic 80's montage.

There's a move version of the A-Team coming up, which isn't surprising. It does stir up a sense of nostalgia, even though Hannibal is now being played by Liam Neeson. Face is way more handsome in the movie than he was on the show. I doubt I'll go see it, but if it starts with the same theme song that would be nice.

80s Flashback-Leg Warmers

Leg warmers were originally worn by dancers, but made it mainstream in the 1980s thanks to movies like Flashdance, and the general aerobics craze. When I was a little girl in the 1980s I had a pair, because everyone else had a pair. Mine were in neon pink and blue, reflecting the bright 1980s colors.

I didn't wear them they way you should, however, since I didn't do much aerobics as a youth. Any dancing that I did was tap dancing, a skill that has never been put to use in my adult life. When the snow would hit, I would put them on over my jeans. Again, why I thought this was a good idea is beyond me. They didn't work too well when I was playing in foot high snow. The snow would become ice, and freeze to my legwarmers. Instead of my legs staying warmer like they should have, my lower legs were encased in ice. Eventually I did stop wearing them, because no matter how cool I thought I was when I was wearing my leg warmers, running around in ice legs weren't worth it.

I'm not sure what became of those leg warmers, they were discarded long ago. Leg warmers occasionally pop up again as a fashion statement, albeit in less bright colors. Now that I'm older I can never see myself wearing them again. My legs just never really get cold.

-Picture from BethAKABetty on Etsy. If you're looking for vintage clothing, why don't you stop by?