The Decades Game – Wanna Play?
Here’s a fun game to see out the decade for you and your loved ones. And it’s a simple one too. Think about were you 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 40 years ago etc. and then tell your story.
We played this game recently with my father, and it was fascinating to hear all the history of where he had been and what he had done in his 7+ decades on earth. From his early childhood in Denmark, to his military duty, his travels around Asia and his work in Africa. A full history of life and experiences that make him who he is today and trickles down to us…the kids.
In our Western Culture there are so many stories we never hear from our parents, our grand-parents or even (if we’re so lucky) our great-grand-parents. We’ve lost the tradition of sharing our pasts through story-telling and it’s really a shame. Our ancestors history is part of what shapes us, and that’s really something we should hang onto.
We also went through the process for us; for Paul, me and the pets. We don’t have the same long history as dad, but it’s still interesting to see what we’ve done in our time here and where that’s taken us. For example, I could never have predicted 20 years ago that I’d buy an RV and travel around the USA. And 30 years ago, I was living in the UK and had no idea that I’d even ever come to the US.
So many changes….
So just for fun, I thought I’d share some of my stories with you today. And then, if you’re into the game I’d love to hear yours.
10 Years Ago – 2009 (USA, The RV & Polly)
A whole 10 years ago, and yet it seems like a mere moment.
This was actually the start of our RV travel story. Earlier that year we’d bought “the beast” on a crazy impulse at an RV show in San Diego (still can’t believe we did that), having never driven anything that big or RV’d anywhere before.
And that’s how it all began.
Paul quit his job, we started to sell all our stuff, and we set the goal to fulltime travel at the start of 2010. It seemed like an insane dream, and not at all something folks our age-group were doing at the time, but we’d saved up like crazy and read a few blogs (Technomadia, Gypsy Journal, Bayfield Bunch and Tioga George were all huge inspirations for us), so we were ready for the adventure.
What a wild and beautiful ride that turned out to be!
This was also the year Polly came into our lives as a rescue pup dumped at the Rancho Coastal Humane Society (where I was volunteering at the time). An e-mail went out that morning about the dumped pups who were sickly with mange and couldn’t survive the night at the kennels. So before I knew what I was doing I was driving to the rescue to pick them up.
On my way home, Paul called me up:
“Where did you go??? You just upped and left this morning”
“Oh, to pick up the puppies!” I answered quite logically “didn’t I tell you?”
“Whaaaat? Did you say puppies? What puppies??”
Oh yeah, turns out that in my puppy-fogged fervor, I had completely forgot to mention anything. A moment of paw-infused delirium, or perhaps it was fate? Either way, we ended up fostering for several months and Paul fell in love too.
That was the start of our lives with Polly….
20 years Ago – 1999 (USA, Y2K)
It was Y2K, the year 2000 just around the corner and we were all on high alert. I was working in the semiconductor industry in San Jose, CA at the time and the thing that was on the forefront of everyone’s mind was the Millenium bug.
For those of you not around at the time, this was a fallout from the 1960’s-80’s when computers used 2-digit codes to represent the year (rather than 4 digits), so rolling from 99 to 00 would mean software systems would recognize the year as 1900 instead of 2000 (oooops!). It was a major deal.
Think systems crashing, financial data wiped, transport systems coming to a standstill, the modern world ending, that kind of thing…or so the predictions went.
The phenomenon was so big it even had it’s own logo.
We’d spent a good part of the past year upgrading our systems and reassuring customers that everything was going to be OK, with emergency software teams on call at the office through midnight. In retrospect it was a lot of craziness, but the work paid off and the year rolled over fairly peacefully, along with all our fears & memories of Y2K.
That year Paul and I celebrated New Year’s Eve with his mom and grandmother on the rooftop of our San Francisco apartment. We drank Cosmopolitan’s and laughed until we cried. We only took one pic that night, but it’s my favorite of that moment.
30 years Ago – 1989 (France & UK)
The terrible demonstrations in Tian’anmen Square, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Madonna and Prince. Those are the things that stick in my mind, although I know there was so much more that happened in the world that year.
Of course I was young, and deeply absorbed in my own experiences as so many young folk are.
That year I had left behind my boyfriend in France and moved to the UK to begin my University education. It was a bit of rough start too. Only a few weeks after arriving in College, I slit my foot open on a piece of metal that was sticking out of my suitcase. I remember limping & bleeding like a river all down the hallway until some friendly soul found me and took me to the emergency room. Certainly not the most glamorous of starts, but it did get better.
My next three years in England left me with many fond memories. A slew of good friends, a love of English summers (and a corresponding hatred of the grey, drizzly winters), thighs like concrete (thanks to all the bicycling), arms like a wrestler (thanks to all the rowing) and a liver pickled through by English bitters.
Oh and I did manage a bachelors degree in Science too. It was a fine period of my life.
40 years Ago – 1979 (Asia)
I was but a child, and our family was living in Asia.
My sister was born the year before, and although the pics may not have shown it, I was pretty excited to have a younger sibling. That was also the year we’d moved from Singapore to Hong Kong and were living in a dank and dingy apartment in Mid-Levels (half-way up the mountain on the island).
I have glimpses of my life back then that play like an old slide show in my mind; playing with my best friend (the boy next-door) along Bowen Road Park, where we built fortresses and pretended we were explorers in the wild (I was a total tom-boy and a wannabe traveler, even back then); bargain shopping with mom in Stanley Market (I always loved that); being teased & bullied at school (sadly, the worst part of it all); doing massive jigsaw puzzles to pass the time (something I still love today).
But I also learned about travel, and culture and what it means to live in another country. Growing up in Asia was a gift that I’ve carried with me my whole life.
That’s it for my story, at least for now. It’s about as far back as I can go before turning into proverbial goo. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed the ride & now I’d love to hear about you too.
What’s your story? Where were you these past decades? And what have you done or where have you gone that you never expected? DO share below!
That was great FUN, Nina. It is amazing how lives change and evolve. I just might have to take you up on the challenge for the end of the year post, but first I have to try to get the Christmas post done! LOL
Oh please do! I’m dying to hear your decades story.
Nina
I have been thinking of writing my history for my daughters and it seemed a little daunting. Thinking back to each of the decades I realized it would be fairly easy to write down the thing I remember from each period.
I have 75 years to cover so I really need to get started AND finish. Thank you!!!!
Oh please do it!! I so wish my mom had done the same before she passed, and my grandma and great-grandma before her. I have heard many of the stories orally, but it would be such a treat to have them written down. I think your daughters will love it.
Nina
Wow Nina, I really think you’ve started a tidal wave here! You’ll be inundated with your readers’ stories! I’m reluctant to send ours for that very reason! But we do feel so in tune with you as we also bought our first (5th wheel) RV on a total crazy unintended whim! I was over in USA from UK in 2005 “just to visit my friend Kim” in California – and only just learning these alien terms like “RV” and “slide-out”! We stopped by an RV dealership in Gilroy, just to “look at them” – and ended up buying one, asking them to store it for 6 months before I returned, to buy a truck (to tow the thing) then go and get it and use it for a few months. Then it was put in storage again (getting invaded by rats and having things break from freezing temperatures) for more months while I returned to UK to start the Immigration process to return to USA permanently. Much of our RVing was based on your excellent campground reports so you played a huge part in our education. We still recommend newbies to go to your website as you have done such wonderful articles on every RV subject one could think of!
It’s been great to read this article and share your stories and many pictures that look so cute to US also, regardless of our not being part of your family! Great stuff!
All the best in EU from us who miss you in USA! Dave and Kim.
OMG..it IS such a similar story! After we bought on a whim our RV went into storage for 6 months too. But admittedly we didn’t get invaded by rats….ouch!!
Thanks so much for sharing your story. Loved it.
Nina
Well, since I tuned 80 last month, that means I was actually born in the 1930s. Egads. In the 50s, my parents moved from Indiana to Florida and I graduated high school in 1957. In the ’60s, I moved around while working in the computer business and lived in Florida, Minnesota (twice), Michigan, New Mexico, Virginia, Massachusetts, and spent a year at Sud Aviation in Toulouse, France. The ’70s saw me back in Florida and working for GE on the west coast and at Kennedy Space Center in the Shuttle firing rooms on the east coast. The ’80s and half of the ’90s were spent working in Melbourne, FL. Then I moved to Largo, FL and soon became the intranet guru for Raytheon designing and programming web applications. And, I did my fair share of Y2K programming patches too. Finally, in 2010, I retired. Whew! What a ride. Now, who else can claim that they robbed a bank and escaped on a little spotted pony. Oh, it was filmed and shown on the news of all three TV stations in town too. (It was a promo for a rodeo.)
Very cool history! Thanks so much for sharing.
Nina
Well, a blog post would be without photos, as those are back in storage in Michigan…but let’s think back. 2009 had us sweating my prostate cancer diagnosis, which I beat…yay! That was the decade that myself and a small committee of volunteers got the ball rolling to save Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse. (Your photo of it is still my favorite!) Retirement and full-time RVing were a dream and a plan, but not a reality for another 5 years. 1999 saw us moving into our new house we had just had built in Grand Rapids, Michigan.. 1989 saw is preparing to move into our first house in GR. 1979 …wow…Diana and I had just met! 1969, I was in grade school in Detroit and 1959 I was but a toddler in S.E. Michigan.
YEAH on the prostate cancer win. Unfortunately a disease we’ve had to fight twice in our extended family, but also so far beat. And double yeah on the Lighthouse. What a great thing to be apart of. Thanks for sharing all your memories.
Nina
Oh How fun. I realized as I started thinking back over the decades that the ones ending in 9 tend to be the ends of significant periods of my life as well:
10 years ago 2009
I had briefly gone back to nursing-my career since 1978- supervising and teaching home health aide continuing ed classes in Queens NY, but ultimately quit since my commute was bad (1 hour each way on Long Island ) but theirs was worse (2 hours by bus and subway for them at night). They were by and large very hard working West Indian women with a few from Africa (Gabon, Senegal and Benin) and I felt they were being taken advantage of while the agency I worked for was less than honest with the State of New York about what they were providing. I then returned to being a nanny for my neighbors who now had 3 children( 5,3,2 ) for whom I’d babysat since the 5 year old was 2. My situation was super since our son was in Middle School and was able to come by their house when he got out of school. We were living in a nice town on Long Island but one that I never really took to, even though I lived there longer (11 years) than any place else I’d lived as an adult. We’d moved to Long Island in 2003 after my husband’s employer moved from downtown NYC (42 Broadway) after 9-11. It was a move we never planned to make but was the only option. Having fully renovated the family home in which we’d been living in the Hudson Valley until then, it was heartbreaking to have to leave an area and people we loved.
20 years ago 1999
A busy decade. Having started the decade living in NC, I had moved back home to St Croix VI where I’d been born and raised, in 1991. My intent was to live there “forever” but in 1994 a phone call from by first true love (I was in touch with his sister) led to my leaving after only 3 years and back to the states. We got married in 1995, had our son in 1996 and had moved to his grandparents summer house on the Hudson River in 1998. In 1999 I was the happy mother of a brilliant and wonderful 3 year old. The house had been shared with my husband and his 4 siblings but with land swaps we bought them out and once again had planned to live there “forever”…
30 years ago 1989
Yet another incredibly busy decade-In 1980 I’d moved from being a school nurse in a NH boarding school to working in a hosptial in Cambridge MA and as a visiting nurse. In 1982, in response to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, I volunteered to go work there, first for Oxfam America and then directly for the Palestine Red Crescent. I first worked supervising post war rebuilding projects primarily in social and medical fields in the south of Lebanon and Beirut as well as superviing a medical relief team at a hospital that had seen the worst of the massacres the summer before. After 5 months I then went to work in the north of Lebanon (Tripoli) in a hospital in a refugee camp. After the revolt within the PLO I snuck out on a smuggling boat to Cyprus (my visa in Lebanon had expired), and from therewent to Cairo, Egypt where the Palestine Red Crescent hired me to teach a practical nursing course and be Assistant Matron of Nurses in their hospital. In 1987 I had returned to the states and began working again at Cambridge Hospital but after a year decided to make a big change and move to Chapel Hill, NC. I worked for a year in the UNC hospital and then returned to my real love in nursing:home health where I organized and ran the home health aide division of a home health agency. It was a very exciting and fulfilling decade but I was yearning to go home to St Croix in the Virgin Islands.
40 years ago 1979
I had finished my nursing degree the year before and was working as a school nurse in a boarding school in NH. I had started at one and been head hunted by another so I could construct and teach a health course. The preceding years of the decade had been exciting. In 1970, I left Ireland and moved to the states to work as an au pair for my godmother’s sister in NJ. There I met a guy whom I’d date for a year but who would ultimately (23 years later become my husband) . I stayed 2 years in NJ until the father of the family was transferred to San Francisco to open a subsidiary of the bank he worked for and I was invited to join them. I stayed in San Francisco for 2 years (a heady time in the early 70s) but my father died quite suddenlt in 1974 and I needed to be near my family again. They had moved to FL (a year after I left Ireland) so I moved there and workd in banking for 2years before decidig to finally go to nursing school. I chose a school in NJ so it was time to move again. A series of serendipitous events led to my being hired right after graduation in 1978 as a school nurse at a small boarding school in NH. I would make life long friends with both fellow faculty and students and our travels over the past 5 years have allowed me to reconnect with a number of them.
50 years ago 1969
It hit me a few mnths ago that I turned 18 50 years ago Na dit took my breath away for a moment. 18 and 50 were both significant birthdays for me and the fact that the sum of them equalled my age when I really only feel like I am in my 30s struck me. In 1969 my family had just moved to Ireland. I was a senior in high school. 2 years before we left St Croix I had gone to school in Switzerland where I learned French and an abiding love for all things French. (I gained 20 pounds i the first 6 months!) Until I went to Switzerland I’d still been living on St Croix. Things had started to change greatly on the island with the influx of thousands of people from the states with the construction of an aluminum bauxite plant and a Hess Oil Refinery which would, by the 1970s, become the largest refinery in the world. On an island that is only 84 sq miles (217 sq Km) it became a predominating presence and changed life, as we’d known it, drastically. In 1961 youngest brother had been born and joined the other 4 of us (born within 4.5 years) to round out our family.
60 years ago 1959
A child of 8, living on my borth island of St Croix, I had, the year before, gone to the states to visit my grandmother and cousins with my mom and sister. There I had learned about highways and American Bandstand, Betty Boop and other “modern” American concepts that until that point had been inconceivable concepts. I LOVED my life on my island and the fact that people in the states did not know where I was from (nor was the island even marked on many maps) did not bother me in the least. We had moved 4 times (as each new siblings came along) in my short life but were now in the house my parents had built and in which I would live until we left the island in 1969. Most days my mom would pick us up from school and we’d go to the beach for a few hours before going home for dinner. The weather was virtually always perfect (mid-70s to mid 80sF-/23-29C) tradewids blew during the summer and warm Christmas winds in the winter, there were less than 15,000 people on the island and my father was known by many (which meant we never got away with anything less than perfect behavior.) We had horses that we tied out in fields and rode when we got home from school or on weekends and a menagerie of other pets from cats and dogs to mongooses and lizards.
I have loved the adventures of my life and continue to thrill in discovering new places and meeting new people but the foundation I had growing up as a privileged white child in an Afro-Caribbean culture gave me perspectives and roots that have served to inform the rest of my life.
Wow that was a fascinating read Lisa. You’ve certainly had some ups and downs in your life, and it’s taken you to so many places. Thanks so much for sharing.
Nina
Great end of the year & decade post. Enjoyed hearing the decades game review:)! (Though I suspect, somewhere, someplace, somehow – Year 2000 computers will catch up with us – we’ve let our guard down:)!
Enjoy your New Years Eve ahead, and best,
Smitty
Ha! Yes indeed. There are still folks who worry somewhere about Y2K. The rise of the machines is nigh!
Nina
1950s–my parent bought a tent trailer and I learned to love camping. 1960s–I met my future husband, graduated high school, and got married before he went off to Viet Nam. 1970s–I gave birth to our daughter shortly before the new year so spent much of that decade parenting plus we bought our first house. 1980–Dave worked full time and went to college half time so I was pretty much a single parent doing lots of volunteer things. 1990s–Dave had stumbled into the computer management field so he was part of the solution to Y2K and I worked lots of part time jobs learning about lots of fields. 2000s–Dave retired, we bought an RV, sold our house and nearly everything in it and took to the road to explore the USA, our home country. 2010s–We moved back to Minneapolis where we reestablished relationships with friends and family. In fact, we hosted an extended family gathering just tonight.
I love that’s you started with a tent trailer all this years ago (Paul and I used to car camp and backpack, back in the day). And wonderful to hear you’ve reconnected everything back home.
Nina