Big Plans

In a fit of nostalgia, driven by filmmaker John Hughes' untimely death last week at the age of 59, I have been re-watching some of his films. They captured the 1980s teenage angst and high school paradigms perfectly. Plus the soundtracks are classic.

John Hughes made The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, She's Having a Baby, Weird Science, 16 Candles, Ferris Buller's Day Off, and Planes, Trains and Automobiles--among others. It is the High School ones that bring the well of nostalgia up for me. Something about the OMD tracks on the Pretty in Pink soundtrack, and the Simple Minds tune under the end credits of The Breakfast Club that make me remember random things from GHS--over 20 years ago.

Anyhoo, in that mental state, I was listening to a CD yesterday while making dinner. On the CD are tunes from my youth, reminiscent of the movies' soundtracks I have been wading through since this weekend.

Suddenly, I realized that The Girl is about the same age I was when these films and music came out. That meant that she would be sixteen too, some day. I felt the wheels of imagination spinning faster and faster.

When she came up to unload the dishwasher, I told her I had the perfect idea for her Sixteenth Birthday party. We should have an 80's themed party with dancing (to the original classics, of course) on the back patio, with snack and drinks on the hot tub cover, twinkle lights on the patio cover, games inside, and movies on the flat screen in the family room. We should invite all her friends--from school, church, swim team, PALs, soccer, and youth court. (It would be a little inter-stake association that way.) They could dress in 80s outfits and do their hair really big too.

It was so random that it took her by surprise. She said, "Uhhh, yeah, Mom. But that is, like, two years away."

So? It made me a little happy just thinking about the parties we had when I was her age--all the time, for any reason. I know. Two years is a little out there. But big plans take time.

She just shook her head and walked away.