Did you have fun in the Eighties?



Before my Spanish professor arrived in class today, my classmates and I were discussing...oh, who knows what exactly. The point is, somehow the decade known as the Eighties came up, which prompted one 18-year-old girl, dressed in skinny jeans, ballet flats, and a Sponge Bob Square Pants t-shirt, to muse, "I wish I'd been around for the Eighties. They look like they were fun." Here she turned and looked directly at me. "Did you have fun in the Eighties?"



"I was...five," I said, very appalled, and suddenly feeling like maybe I should go to CVS immediately following class to buy some Clairol to cover my gray.



Even more appalling, I had said, not 30 seconds before this, that I was 24. 24, people! That's only six years older than Ms. Born in 1989. I guess 18-year-olds these days can't do basic arithmetic.



My horror grew when the professor arrived and announced we should get into pairs and compose a paragraph about what Atlanta was like 20 years ago.



"Who grew up in Atlanta?" la profesora asked.



I was the only one to raise my hand.



Ms. Born in 1989 raised her hand. "Excuse me, Señora, but what if you weren't born twenty years ago?"



"Well, use your imagination. Atlanta was very different in 1987, right, casetheplace?" La profesora gave me a knowing, middle-aged wink.



I was now officially the old lady of the class who could remember how Atlanta was back in the olden days of 1987.



Fantastic.

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