Friday, December 19, 2008

Oh, to be 13 again!

Last night was my daughter's Winter Formal Dance. My daughter and three of her girlfriends got ready here at the house and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing them laughing, giggling, helping each other with their hair and makeup. They were simply stunning when they came out...


(my daughter is second from the right)

While I took these pictures, I thought about what it felt to be thirteen. These are young women who have so much potential, they are smart young ladies and each has a wonderful unique style that they embrace and do not allow to be diluted with peer pressure. So...for the sake of some nostalgia, I remember that when I was thirteen the world was such a different place!

When I was thirteen...

The Kent State shooting occurred.
Chile elected a Marxist, Salvador Allende.
The First Earth Day was celebrated.
Monday Night Football was launched.
California became the first no-fault divorce state
First New York City Marathon.
The Beatles released their last studio album, Let It Be.
Black Sabbath released what is considered by many to be the first "Heavy Metal" album, "Black Sabbath".
The floppy disc was invented.
Charles Manson was convicted of killing Sharon Tate.
18 year olds were given the right to vote in federal elections.
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty goes into effect, after ratification by 43 nations.
Bar codes were introduced for retail use in England.
The Concorde makes its first supersonic flight.
The U.S. invades Cambodia to hunt out the Viet Cong; massive antiwar protests occur in the U.S.
Jimi Hendrix dies of barbiturate overdose in London.
Janis Joplin dies in a cheap motel from a heroin overdose.
Midnight Cowboy wins the Best Picture Oscar, the first and only time an X-rated movie received the honor.
A United States postage stamp cost 6 cents, a gallon of Gas cost 36 cents, average income in the U.S. was $9,400.00 per year, average cost of new house in the U.S. was $23,450.00, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 838 at year end close.

What a different world these young ladies live in today. They are attached to their laptops, cell phones, ipods and other technology that they simply somehow cannot "live without". They are so much more savvy and wordly than I ever was at that age, they have been exposed to so much more via the media and cable television.

Yet somethings never quite seem to change. They, too, have concern for the war that we are waging in Iraq and Afghanistan. They understand the economic pressures we currently face, and what they will inherit when they complete college and get into the workforce. They will face a world with possible global change issues that will shape how they live, where they live and what they do for a living.

I am proud and honored to be a part of helping one of these young ladies find their way to adulthood and beyond.

What was the world like when you were thirteen? What have and will your thirteen year old children face?

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