No 20 Year Itch Here!

So, twenty years is a long time ... right? So much has changed since 1991. CNN was a little known new station that would have stayed that way except for the fact that they broadcast the Gulf War ... LIVE on TV. Whoa, we had never seen that before! Four Los Angeles police officers are indicted for the videotaped beating of Rodney King during an arrest. Boris Yeltsin was the President of Russia and later the KGB would be officially disbanded. George Bush was the President of the United States who, the following year, threw up all over the Prime Minister of Japan at a televised event! 

There were no cell phones, at least none for the general public, computers were JUST starting to catch on as possible household items and it was the year that we all met Jeffery Dalmer and his barrels of people in his tiny apartment. The 1991 Perfect Storm strikes the northeastern United States and Atlantic Canada, causing over $200 million of damage and resulting in 12 direct fatalities. Magic Johnson was one of the very first celebrities to disclose he had HIV and sadly, he left the NBA.

Me? I was into music and movies! Nirvana's second album Nevermind is released which absolutely BLEW MY MIND! Many more grunge bands hit the scene that year including Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Soundgarden. Loved them all! I was heartbroken when Freddie Murcury died, there has never been another voice like his since his passing. (You know Queen when you hear it!) Three of my FAVORITE albums are released later in the year: Red Hot Chili Peppers' Blood Sugar Sex Magic; U2's Actung Baby and Metallica's self titled album. Then, the best of the best happened ... my music world and my movie world enjoyed Madonna's Truth or Dare. Oh, I must have watched that movie 30 times in my life and just get such a thrill out of watching that woman do her thing! Speaking of movies, I enjoyed the JACKPOT in Oscar predictions that year. You see, it was the year that we were all mesmerized by Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs. Right after I saw that movie, I told people that it would win it all come Academy Award time. I said it would win Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screen Play. When it did, I looked like a genius!!!!!!!! (sidenote ... Did you know? Hopkins' performance - supposedly comprised of 16 minutes of screen time, was purported to be the shortest Best Actor performance ever, up to this time.)

But the Cherry On Top thing to happen for me in 1991 was on July 28th. I had just started a new job waiting tables at a really nice restaurant and I was spending a LOT of time with my friend Bruce. We had soooo much in common and we could really make each other laugh, so much so that we spent hours giggling at our thoughts and sayings. We had been friends for a few years because we had the same circle of friends. But something was happening with us. Although I had my own apartment, I found myself at his house quite a bit just hanging out and watching the occasional hockey game. But that night, that Tuesday night all those years ago everything changed. And it changed for the better. What started out as an innocent night just watching reruns of Hunter on TV turned into the night we realized that our feelings for each other could no longer be hidden.

Sitting in a chair together, a moment came when we had just finished laughing and the silence was awkward. Looking at each other, he leaned in and kissed me. That was it! I was done! I knew in that moment that there need not be another man in my life. Bruce was THE ONE I had been longing for and on that night I knew I had found the person I wanted to spend forever with!

Fast forward a year and our lives would be forever changed. Different than we had ever expected. More challenging than most relationships hitting their first anniversary. We had been pregnant, had twins and then chose adoption for them. Talk about life altering, this was a mother load of change that two young people could not fathom would happen. There is more to this story, and I will share that with you next time. I want to share how we made it through the bad, and the good, and still continue to laugh, love and enjoy the life we were given...so stay tuned.

Part II

He Gave Me Strength, That Man of Mine