Picture this: it's 1988, and I'm sitting in a movie theater with whatever snacks my Dad bought us. Probably Skittles and a medium Coke, if I had to guess.
On the big screen is The Land Before Time, this amazing animated movie by Don Bluth about dinosaurs. I can't look away.
I'm probably wearing some late '80s t-shirt, maybe Mr. T, with regular jeans. My hair is that white-blonde color some kids get in the summer. I'm about seven or eight years old.
That moment right there? That's everything I loved about being a kid in the late '80s.
This was when Madonna and Micheal Jackson ruled the radio. When everyone had snap bracelets. When we'd all gather around the TV on Saturday nights to watch Dana Carvey make fun of President Bush on Saturday Night Live.
But the video games, now those were really something back then. The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Sega Master System, and especially The Legend of Zelda. I still remember walking into Toys R Us with my brother and seeing that gold game cartridge sitting there, shining like treasure among all those plain grey ones. We begged our Dad for what felt like hours until he finally said yes.
Everyone has that one time in their life they think back to. For me, this is it.
Looking back now, I think everything just came together perfectly. Movies, games, music; it all felt more magical than anything before or since. Those experiences made me who I am. And now, as a dad myself, I get to share them with my own kids. Just a few months ago, they wanted to watch Back to the Future, and I realized something: the best parts of the '80s aren't stuck in the past. They're still here, still working their magic on a whole new generation.