Who are you? Who am I? | Week 6

February | Early Years | Week 6 | 2/12/2023
Talk about your adolescence - elementary school

In the last few years there's been a really interesting resurgence of paraphernalia, jargon, and popular-culture-allusion to the decade or two that I grew up in. Naturally, as my generation ascends to managerial positions in media companies, product manufactures and marketing departments, the nostalgia of our adolescence will be more present and critical to the economic success of our endeavors. As Don Draper put it, "Nostalgia - it's delicate but potent." Hard as it is for me to divorce the subjectivity with which I view that era, I can say that objectively, it was a great time to be alive and a great time to grow up. The colloquial 90's kid - that was me. The late 90's and early 2000's were a time before social media, before widespread political divisiveness, in a twilight zone of positive race relations and national patriotism. We had Heelys and Janson backpacks. We rode our bikes to school with no threat of kidnapping. We roller-bladed in the streets on Saturday mornings after the typical lineup of cartoons - Digimon, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Beyblade. We watched the NBA finals, the Superbowl, and the State of the Union, with the same enthusiasm and collectivity. We built ramps from plywood, to scuff our knees on skateboards. We had Smashmouth playing on disc while we shuffled through our VCR collection. This was the era of The Matrix, Tony Hawk, Space Jam, Friends and Harry Potter. 

My family had the American Dream. We lived in suburbia, in a safe, cost-effective, relatively new development. We had A schools, summer swim leagues, paved sidewalks that connected the neighborhoods, and kids everywhere. My adolescence consisted of regime - I woke up at 7:30 AM, to a stay-at-home mother and a father who'd yet to leave for his banking job downtown. I rode my bike to school with friends. I wore my running shoes on PE days. I had soccer, basketball or flag football practice 5 days a week. My teachers liked me. The girls liked me. Athletics and academics consumed my days. Studying flash cards and watching Survivor consumed my nights. Soccer tournaments, swim meets and sleep overs consumed my weekends. And bliss was abundant. 

It's funny, meeting guys from different walks of life as an adult, and learning about the way they grew up. Sometimes I find myself envious, but then I recall how damn near perfect my adolescence was, and I remember that there are no necessary emotions to possess on this subject, other than gratitude and curiosity. I have friends from the northeast, who grew up playing hockey and attending Bills and Eagles games in the snow with die-hard fans. They know all the sports references and tell hilarious stories of Italian dads on the block getting into trouble. They spent time in 'the city' and can entertain with impressions and cultural comedy. I have friends that grew up on a lake wakeboarding and had their first kiss in a secret cove. They played baseball and dipped tobacco since age 15. They know every old country song and can impress you with their outdoorsmanship. I have friends that grew up surfing, friends that grew up golfing, friends that grew up playing piano, friends that grew up in a family of doctors, friends that grew up in Chicago and friends that grew up in California. 

But I grew up in a suburb in Florida, with Disney and the beach in our backyard. I grew up with military kids, punks, nerds, jocks, and cheerleaders. I grew up tinkering with cars, idolizing great athletes, spending long summer days at the pool, and getting into just the right amount of trouble. I grew up playing instruments and sports. I grew up reading books and watching movies. I grew up well-rounded, with exposure to everything and everyone. And the best part of it all, the mentality we should all share having grown up in America - the feeling of being proud of where you came from and grateful to no end.