hippytowiki

The Lost Decade

"Greed is Good!" proclaimed Gordon Gekko in Wall Street (the movie). The year was 1987 and I was still lovin' yuppiedom.  A new condo in Hoboken...summers in the Hamptons...a much-coveted VP title.  But then I started growing up and realizing what was really important.

All of a sudden, life took all kinds of adult turns.   My first daughter was born (which was both awesome and terrifying -- was I really competent to be a parent??!!).  I lost most of my right lung (to a benign tumor) and spent several days in the ICU.  The whole experience was quite humbling...I guess there is such a thing as mortality!  My father died suddenly (Ditto).  And then I had another baby.  Talk about growing up fast. 

I worked hard. I got promotions.  We moved to the suburbs.  We bought real furniture.  I drove to Gymboree.  I drove myself -- and my staff -- crazy.  I looked and felt like hell most of the time.  But my daughters sure were adorable!

Lessons learned in my 30s:

• Life is short.  Enjoy it.
• If you have a chronic cough, go to a doctor.
• Commuting to Chicago every week is not really fun after the second week.  (When my job moved, I flew back and forth...great for AA miles, but that's about it.)
• When you're a parent, nothing ever really grosses you out.
• Greed WAS good.  Health and family are better.

Electric '80s...Roaring '20s

As the 1970s flowed into the 1980s, polyester and disco replaced denim and steel guitars.  ("Hotel California" won the Grammy the year I moved back to NY and "Mr. Roboto" was a hit the year I got married.)  Wall Street was cool...street people were not.  I was hurled from the safe womb of college life to the go-go-go rush of first jobs, singles bars, living in squalor in a walk-up apartment (with my cockroach pets, occasional mice, and my pet cat Lola -- named after the Kinks song), and dreaming of a doorman building, big desk, big paycheck and Mr. Big.

I started out in a semi-bohemian publishing career and soon "sold out" to a job in banking.  I cut my hair and permed it (as evidenced by the photo).  I wore floppy ties and shoulder pads.  My power suits led to power jobs, and I accumulated "yuppie stuff" with my newly-earned cash.  I got married at the Pierre Hotel and honeymooned in the Virgin Islands, drank mimosas with friends at brunch (and, although I never had a doorman, I got to move into a home without bugs and rodents). 

I remember the day a computer was wheeled on a cart into my office.  I think it was only good for typing documents, making spreadsheets and talking to other people in my company.  But it was oh-so-exciting (although there's nothing quite like that formidable IBM Selectric, and I have my best literary thoughts when I'm using a notebook and black felt tip pen.  I also still know how to add without a calculator!).

Speaking of technology, one of my favorite after-work de-stressers was an intense game of Q*bert at the local arcade.   Then, as technology became more sophisticated, game developers decided that stealing cars, shooting enemies, and building your own society was more entertaining than propelling a weird creature up and down a geometric hill.  I'm not sure I agree.

Fads of the 1980s

Everything you ever want to know about cockroaches

Kleinfeld Bridal (It was -- and still is -- a bridal institution.  My friend Sue and I were almost kicked of the store for bad behavior.  The retailer has since moved from Brooklyn to NY, but I hear they are still talking about "the incident")