My son is starting his senior year of high school this month which reminds me that I was also a senior in high school 38 years ago. It was a fleeting moment in time that continues to bring me (mostly) joy and fond memories. So, for the next year or so I'm going to devote the blog to an almost daily diary type journey to those days. My senior year at Riverdale High School in Murfreesboro was the culmination of my public education that had began with Mrs. Phillip's private kindergarten class (public schools in Tennessee back in the early 70's started at 1st grade) and ended with Mrs. Warner's home room. There were 6 periods of classes at Riverdale, but I only needed 5 more credits to graduate in 1985 so I was done after my 5th period accounting class. My other classes would be English, Sociology/Psychology, Geography, and World History. It was, for the most part, a completely stress free senior year.
We'll get to that soon enough, but for now I am going to begin this look back at the beginning of August just to have this tour of the past begin on the first day of the month. So how about we see what went on in and around August 1, 1984. I was still living on Jimmy C. Newman's farm. Here's a photo of the trailer and one of me probably from April or May of 1984.
The weather was hot, but I stuck to my t-shirt, blue jeans, and flip flops most of the time. The only time I was allowed to use a car was when I would get to drive to the mailbox which was located at the foot of Jimmy C. Newman Road at Big Springs Road. I don't know how far it was, but I could get in at least one song off of KDF to and from on the trip. My mother would drive to Smyrna for work during the day and my father was usually on the tractor all day bush hogging hundreds of acres. I listened to the radio, my records, and tapes. I might have read the latest Creem, Circus, or Hit Parader magazine if I'd been able to get one on a Saturday when I'd usually ride into Murfreesboro with my father and uncle. I'd go outside and hit rocks with an old baseball bat or just meander around the farm making sure to keep an eye out for timber rattlers. I mowed the grass around the trailer we lived in every week, but spent lots of time inside thumbing through the complete set of Encyclopedia Brittanica's my parents bought me at the start of my sophomore year of high school. I waited around until 11:30PM to watch Late Night with David Letterman. That show was basically my religion at this point. Ghostbusters, Gremlins, Best Defense, and The Jungle Book were at the Martin Four. Purple Rain and Meatballs II were at the Cinema. The local newspaper, the Daily New Journal, had a coupon for 40 cents off E.T. cereal.
Phone home
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