While my 10-year-old isn’t a huge movie or TV guy, when finds something he loves, he absolutely immerses himself in it. During his Wonka phase, Ten carried a cane and learned how to make chocolate candies. During his Newsies phase, he tap-danced everywhere and had pointed opinions on fair wages for child laborers in the late 1800’s. Now, as per the Netflix marketing engine, Ten is in his Strangers Things phase. A couple of weeks ago, he shaved his head after one of his friends commented that he looked a little like the character Eleven.
For Valentine’s Day, we gave Ten his own “Thinking Cap,” a yellow and black trucker hat worn by the Stranger Things character Dustin Henderson. As you can imagine, he was very excited. The boys made me breakfast in bed in honor of the holiday, and I was leaning up against my headboard enjoying a bagel when Ten flopped up beside me, his ears sticking straight out to the side under the Thinking Cap.
“I’ve decided that today I’m going to have an 80’s day,” Ten said, referencing the time period of the Strangers Things universe.
“That’s a great idea,” I said. “What will make it an 80’s day?”
It is important for me to pause here and note that Ten loves asking Kyle and I about the 1980’s and 90’s. It is also important to note that, in Ten’s mind, the 1980’s and the 1940’s and the 2000’s and the 1700’s and the dawn of man were all basically the same time period. Here are some of the questions he has asked in the memorable past:
“Was TV in color when you were growing up?”
“Were you alive in the 1980’s/70’s/30’s/2000’s/etc?”
“How old were you when airplanes were invented?”
“Do you know who Snoop Dogg is?”
“Have you ever heard of 9/11?”
“Is that because people didn’t own cars?” (This one was in response to telling him that his dad and I walked to school when we were kids.)
Okay, back to the present.
“What did you do on Saturdays back in the 1980’s?” He asked.
“Well, Auntie Erica and I would wake up and watch Saturday morning cartoons,” I told him, “And then we’d go and play basically the same things you play now.”
“Except that you didn’t have computers or cell phones,” he said, knowingly.
“Right,” I said.
“Which cartoons did you watch?” He asked.
I listed them off, and then took a deep breath and prepared to blow his mind.
“We all watched the same cartoons back then because there was only one channel with Saturday morning cartoons,” I told him. “We had 13 channels and most of them were for grownups. Saturday morning cartoons were only on until lunchtime and then it was back to the news.”
He did the hand motion and “pa-chow” sound of being blown away.
“It was a very difficult time,” I told him.
“I won’t watch TV,” he said. “But I do want to have a TV dinner for lunch. Do they still make TV dinners?”
“Yes,” I said. “They still make TV dinners. We can go to the store and you one after I get dressed.”
“I’ll go get dressed, too,” he said. “What did people wear in the 80’s?”
“Eighties fashion is in style, so I’d say wear your normal clothes,” I told him.
We got dressed and drove to the store. Ten tried in vain to get me to buy him a new LEGO set because “there were LEGOs in the 80’s,” and then settled for a plastic watercolor set since “there was art in the 80’s, probably.” He also picked out a Kids Cuisine microwave dinner consisting of chicken nuggets, fries, chocolate pudding, and yogurt-covered pretzels.
“I have to warn you that we’re going to make this TV dinner in the microwave and not the oven,” I said. “I don’t even know if you can make a Kids Cuisine in the oven anymore.”
“Why would you make a TV dinner in the oven?” He asked, confused.
“Bubbe didn’t get a microwave until the 90’s,” I told him, “And then she didn’t use it until almost the 2000’s.”
“Why didn’t she use it?” He asked.
“People thought microwaves caused cancer,” I said.
“And then they made them to not cause cancer?” He asked.
“I don’t actually know,” I said.
He did the hand motion and “pa-chow” sound of being blown away again.
We drove home, microwaved the meal, and he ate it while painting since we don’t own any of those awesome folding TV tables on the stand-up TV table holders. Then he went and played outside and I told him to come inside when the streetlights came on which also blew his mind.
He was back inside long before the streetlights came on. I was folding laundry (it was a very sexy Valentine’s Day) and he came and leaned on the laundry room door.
“I’m going to be done with the 80’s in 3…2…1,” he said.
“How did it go?” I asked.
“Oh, great!” He exclaimed. “I wish it was the 80’s all the time.”
Then he sniffed and looked around.
“So, can I use my Oculus or have some time on my cell phone?” He asked under his breath.
“Sure,” I said to my ’15 kid.
The photo above is of my sister and me in the early 90’s.
I wasn’t on North Dakota Today this week because of the holiday. Last week on North Dakota Today, we talked about the AARC’s Christmas Ladies, my Nice People of the Week, as well as a call for volunteers for an upcoming youth fishing derby. (Valley News Live)
Dickinson’s Jeanette Friedt is cookin’ with gas thanks to the Older Individuals Who are Blind program. (Health & Human Services)
North Dakota is gearing up to celebrate our state’s 250th birthday. (Grand Forks Herald)
“Teddy Roosevelt” celebrated Presidents’ Day at the Roosevelt Park Zoo. (KX Net)
North Dakota Nice 
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