Quintessential 90's Girl

I woke up feeling a little plaid today.  Perhaps it's due in part to the fact that two of my best girls and I are always reminiscing about the days of our youth.  Or maybe it's because none of us have grown up past 1997.  Whatever it is, I came to my desk and promptly created an essential 1990's playlist.  Poe, The Cranberries, Lisa Loeb, Concrete Blond, Garbage.  Ya - I could go on and on.  Something about today's chill reminds me of those 1990's movies when the sky is dark and the moods brooding.  I guess in 2012 we'd call that Emo or Hipster mentality.  But I like to call it 1992 Security Sweater Day.  When I was growing up, I adopted a sweater from my older sister.  It was over sized in every way and hung from my body like a drooping flag on a still day.  I loved that sweater and felt that it protected me from the scary world.  My mother wanted to trash it because I literally wore it every single day.  Oddly enough I have a brown one ridiculously similar which hangs on the back of my desk chair year round. Some things never change and now that I'm all grows up, Mama can't hide it. 

I started thinking about why the 1990's seemed so great and why it seems necessary to relive with girlfriends.  Well, I came to one conclusion.  Youth.  It was a time when we started discovering things like our own tastes in music, our own sense of humor, and of course what we found most attractive about other people as a response to our changing bodies.  And now as we age, we see those iconic images as a staple of what made us who we are today.  We became Gen X, once thought to be a hopeless generation of losers and bleak thinkers.  Now we one of our own is the President of the United States.  And if you are a Gen X-er reading this, you may be thinking "When did I get so old?"  I ask myself that same question every day.  However, there is a sense of pride that comes with being a 1990's girl.  We experienced a lot of shit, man!

A recap! (seriously abridged)

1990 - Nelson Mandela was freed after serving  27 years in prison and the first Gulf War was started. Tim Burton's "Edward Scissorhands" revives Johnny Depp's acting career.
1991 - Jeffrey Dahmer is arrested and the Jerry Springer Show is launched.
1992 - Nirvana becomes wildly popular with "Come as You Are" and Whitney Houston drives us all crazy with "I-eeee-I-eeee-I will always love yooooou"
1993 - World. Wide. Web., North American Free Trade Agreement, and Walker Texas Ranger premieres.
1994 -Former president Ronald Regan tells the world he is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, Rwandan genocide begins taking the lives of millions, Pulp Fiction welcomes John Travolta back to popular culture. 
1995 - The Oklahoma City Bombing as a result of domestic terrorism causes the U.S. to pause in fear while the movie Se7en freaked us all out.
1996 - France ceases its production of nuclear weapons.  Fiona Apple comes on to the music scene and movies Scream, Fargo, and Trainspotting  give us all the chills.
1997 - Titanic.  Wasn't that the only thing that happened?
1998 - The Monica and Bill scandal brings a whole new meaning to "I have this stain on my dress" while Britney Spears, Back Street Boys, and Dawnson's Creek make us want to vomit.
1999 - IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD.....not.  Sadly....Columbine happened.

That's just the tip of the iceberg.  Thanks to the interwebs you can find loads of interesting historical facts ranging from politics to pop culture.

"I can't believe it was that long and I have memories of watching as opposed to something happening so early in your life that you hardly remember it" says Julie Shelton.

All this to say the 1990's were prime years in my life.  A time when I witnessed things that I had no idea would change and influence my adult thinking.  If I could take a hot tub time machine back to 1992, I would love to tell 15 year old Carrie so much.  But probably it would end up sounding a little something like this:

"Hey, Carrie. It's me...it's you. I mean, I'm you...I'm Carrie. Never mind just listen. A lot of stuff is going to happen in the next 20 years so don't freak out.....as much. No they haven't found a cure for cancer or AIDS but there are a shit ton of newly discovered diseases that will blow your mind.  By the time your reach 34 you will be separated from your husband, living in a one bedroom apartment with your cats, your next door neighbor is a unicorn and you have a mountain of student loan debts.  But you go to Italy and you have some awesome friends. Don't be afraid to cry, always remember your address, and never date guys with blue eyes. I tihnk that's all for now. Oh and don't worry about Robert Downey Jr. He's going to make it out of this".

Peace.