No, it's not my birthday, it's Jo at Serendipitous Stitching's birthday!! If you're not familiar with Jo's blog (and WHY AREN'T YOU?? Go fix that right now!), she hosts the most fabulous Blog Hop parties throughout the year. So what better way to celebrate her birthday than with a blog hop??!?
We who are hosting hop stops were assigned a year from Jo's life, and she shared with us a piece of her Life Story. I was assigned
1980!!
Ah, the 80s, when my hair looked like this:
No, that's not really me...
Well, actually, it was much later in the 80s when my hair looked like that...I was a little young in 1980 to support that much hair spray on my head. Here's what was going on in Jo's life in 1980:
Jo was 14. Jo's final school holiday was a wonderful trip to France, specifically the Normandy D-Day beaches and Bayeaux for the tapestry. Jo's Dad went along as a Parent Helper and was very popular with the boys as he regaled them with stories of his army days.
In September Jo started High School, a vast mixed comprehensive. After swap day Jo wrote in her school book "My first impressions were how old the pupils were. I did not know if they were children or teachers". As it was the tail end of the 1970s there were still old-school punks there with the mohicans, ripped jeans and studded jackets. They were obviously NOT teachers, Jo decided.
There was only one guy in my high school who ever had a mohawk, and I think he had to get his hair cut like that because he lost a bet. But I did go to a very conservative high school...we were not even allowed to hold hands with our boyfriends in the hallways!
Jo requested that we share what either 1) what happened to us in our assigned year, 2) what happened to us at that age, or 3) what happened when we had that life event.
I can't remember anything outstanding happening in 1980; I moved in 1979 (in the middle of second grade!), so I was still trying to make friends. I am sure I saw "The Empire Strikes Back" as soon as it came out!
As for starting high school, I mentioned my high school before. It was a very small school...there were only about 2000 students in grades K-12! The elementary school was on the same campus, just down a dirt road about 200 yards. Junior high (grades 7-9) was in the same building as high school, but the building was split in half, and junior high students were not allowed to cross the invisible line that ran down the hall outside the cafeteria! I was allowed to go over to the high school side once a day in eighth grade, because I was taking Algebra a year early. Thank goodness, because in 7th grade math(s) we were reviewing long division and I was bored to tears!! As a result of being in the same building, starting high school was no big deal. There was one great thing about starting high school, though...I finally made the cheerleading team! I had a blast being a cheerleader (and being the only one that the band members would tolerate cheering in front of them at pep rallies!)
Finally, we are supposed to post something we stitched that we think Jo will like. I know she has been stitching some lovely garden designs lately, and I also know that she loves Halloween designs. So here are some long-leggity garden beasties!
This is a box designed by Rae Iverson of Moss Creek Designs. I stitched it quite a while ago, and it was a challenging piece for me at that time. Each critter is composed of different specialty stitches, and the only cross stitch is over one!
I hope you have enjoyed this walk down memory lane. Now go wish Jo a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
