Wait, Michael Jackson is black…!?

While the title of this blog may seem like some sort of joke, these are actually words that came out of my mouth about four years ago. 

While wandering the isles of the Best Buy in Fullerton my roommate at the time, Elyse Therrien, mentioned Janet Jackson (Michael’s sister) and my response was shock and awe. As was hers when she discovered I didn’t know that Michael was black! Well, that he used to be black. 

What followed was a series of introductions to a variety of cultural classics that I had managed to miss out on. Things like The Beatles, *NSYNC’s Christmas album, and the movie Hook. (All so good!) 

Today I no longer live with Elyse but still have friends who are constantly introducing me to things that, to them, are horrifying for me to have missed! The most recent of which being the heart attack I gave my friend Jimmy because I had never seen The Wonder Years.

I’ve been thinking about these incidents recently and considering how and if I really did “miss out” on the wonderful things of growing up in the 90s.

In conclusion, I haven’t missed anything.

I am, of course, grateful for the fun nights of watching TV shows that remind me of growing up or the wonderful Christmas sounds of *NSYNC but I don’t think it was at any loss to my childhood to discover these things now as opposed to then.

When I think about my childhood I remember camping trips, science experiments with my siblings, wake boarding, hours outside with my cousins, piano lessons, ballet lessons, AWANA, swing dancing, etc.

Now that doesn’t sound too empty, does it? 

I did things like watching Swiss Family Robinson at my 10^th birthday’s slumber party and having Star Wars movie marathon nights. I may have been significantly out of touch with the swing of society in my age group but as a business graduate with a full-time job and a plethora of fabulous friends and hobbies that DO involve the societal swings/trends/fashions of this day…I would say I'm pretty much caught up and wouldn’t trade my camping trips, utter lack of style, and dance lessons for anything!