1989...25 years later!

Happy New Year!! I'm baack and I've missed you all!! A day late, but hey, I've got a good reason! Today my husband and I are celebrating our 25th(Silver) wedding anniversary...a way to start off the new year! Whoop whoop! Okay, for all of you who thought you were coming over here to read some mushy lovey-dovey 25^th Anniversary post about how much I love and adore my husband, sorry, you won’t get that on this go around! Mind you, I absolutely love and adore my husband, but I thought I’d go against the grain for our 25^th Wedding Anniversary(that’s just the kind of gal I am)! :-)

 

A lot has changed since me and my Toddy got hitched 25 years ago! It really does seem like it was only yesterday. Ahhhh, I remember it well! He called me personable, I called him sire pumpkin head and the rest is love history! :-D Here we are…25 years, 3 kids, one son-in-law, a wonderful extended family, awesome friends, 3 states, a boat load of houses, two ministries and a beautiful church family later and we’re still at it, rearing to go for another 25! You can read my "Marriage Musings" from my anniversary post last year HERE, where I shared a list of "Do's and Don'ts" to keep your marriage going strong.

In the meantime, I invite you to come take a stroll with me back down memory lane….

It was January 7, 1989, in Atlanta, GA. A cold blistering day and I couldn’t wait to warm up in the arms of my snookums...okay, I’m lying, it was actually a surprisingly balmy 72 degrees in Atlanta that day. It was a small intimate wedding. My mom, dad, sisters, brother-in-law, aunt and cousins came down from Columbia. And of course, I couldn’t forget my ace-boon coon, my HFP, my roommate Sebrinia. Todd arrived with his mom and dad in tow. I came down the stairs to Anita Baker’s “You Bring Me Joy” ~ she sang the prettiest love songs EVER! Todd’s dad performed the ceremony, we said our “I Dos" and the rest is history. An unorthodoxed wedding for an unorthodoxed couple. We’ve lived our lives that way ever since! Not fitting the mode whatsoever and ya know what…I wouldn’t have it any other way!

I'm sure I had to tilt my head to the side because I didn't want to hit my husband in the head with the big bushel of baby's breath in my hair(so Minnie Riperton)! Look at those adorable dimples!

Now that I’ve shared with you our posh, lavish, over-the-top penny pinching nuptials, here’s a look at what was happening in 1989 - the last year of the BEST decade ever, that year I married my Prince Charming.

In 1989…

• Gas was 97 cents, a postage stamp 25 cents, a ham and cheese pizza $2.59, and a new house $120,000…GAH!

• The first unofficial text message was sent, the first dial-up internet connection was made in the USA, the launch of the World Wide Web-yep, www.com, the 1^st release of Microsoft Office, world’s first HDTV broadcast, world's 1st television show(David Letterman), to use "dolby stereo", the world's first satellite(Skyphone) opened and the 1^st of 24 GPS satellites was placed in orbit, (yes, our year was definitely the beginning of technology as we know it)

• In the world of entertainment Lucille Ball died, Jane Pauley ended her career at the “Today” show and Dick Clark stepped down as the host of “American Bandstand”

• Michael Jordan scored his 10,000^th NBA point, Kareem Abdul Jabar became the 1^st NBA player to score 38,000 points and also played his last NBA game in 1989, the Dallas Cowboys fired head coach Tom Landry after 29 years, baseball legend Pete Rose was banned from baseball for a lifetime, Canadian olympian Ben Johnson admitted to using steroids, Nolan Ryan struck out his 5,000^th batter, the first NFL game coached by a black man(Art Shell), for the LA Raiders, the NL named Bill White as their 1st African-American president, the Minnesota Timberwolves played their first NBA game, the 1^st Soviet hockey players were allowed to play in the NHL, the Toronto Blue Jays’ Skydome opened, the Orlando Arena opened and Fulton Co. approved a $210 million stadium for the Atlanta Falcons

• Toyota launched their first luxury car(Lexxus), Chrysler was the 1^st car maker to install air bags in all their cars and Yugo went bankrupt(who remembers Yugo? Lol!

• MPAA created NC-17 rating for movies with adult themes. Speaking of movies, 1989 was the YEAR. It brought us “Steel Magnolias”, ”Driving Miss Daisy”, “Glory”, “Field of Dreams”, “Coming to America”, “Do The Right Thing”, “License to Kill”, “Lethal Weapon II”, “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier”, “Weekend at Bernie’s”, “Lean on Me”, “Batman”, “Back to the Future, Part II”, “When Harry Met Sally”, “Honey I Shrunk the Kids”, “Dead Poets Society”, “Ghostbusters II”, “Look Who’s Talking”, “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”, ‘Tango and Cash”, “The War of the Roses”, “All Dogs Go to Heaven, “The Little Mermaid”, “Karate Kid Part II” and “Major League” to name a few…IKR! 

• Oh and the fashion...well here, I'll just let you look at it for yourself!                       
  

  

  Quite lovely, don't you think! :-/

  
  

• In the world of television we had the BEST! No syndication here…all “primetime” baby! “The Cosby Show”, “A Different World”, “Cheers”, “227”, “Amen”, "Siskel and Ebert", “The Golden Girls”, “Coach”, “Designing Women”, “Major Dad”, “Knot’s Landing”, “Dallas”, “Falcon’s Crest”, “Married With Children”, “Murder She Wrote” and “Roseanne”. It was also the premier year for new shows like, “The Simpsons”, “Seinfeld”, “Family Matters”, “Baywatch”, “Cops”, “Inside Edition”, “Doogie Howser, M.D.”, “Quantum Leap”, “Rescue 911”, “Tales from the Crypt”, ABC’s “Primetime Live”, “Saved by the Bell” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos”. We also said goodbye to some favorites like, “Family Ties”, “Murphy’s Law”, “Webster”, It’s A Living”, “Simon and Simon”, “Dynasty”, “Moonlighting”, “The Gong Show”, “Miami Vice”, “Kate and Allie”, “Highway to Heaven” and “American Bandstand”

• And let’s not forget the music. Oh the music! There were so many hit songs, I can’t name them all, so I’ll just name “some” of the many artist that were BIG in 1989…Guns N Roses, The B-52s, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, George Michael, Millie Vanilli(which really shouldn’t count seeing as if they didn’t actually sing, lol),  Richard Marxx,  Rob Base, Anita Baker, Fine Young Cannibals, Simply Red, Bobby Brown, Jody Whatley, Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul, New Kids on the Block, Teddy Riley and Guy, Heavy D, LL Cool J, Chicago, Bon Jovi, Duran Duran, Tiffany, Phil Collins, Gloria Estefan, Babyface, U2, Tone Loc, Depeche Mode, Soul II Soul, Young MC, Aerosmith, Tom Petty, Rick Atsley, The Bangles, Tina Turner, 2 Live Crew, The Beastie Boys, R.E.M., Taylor Danes, 10,000 Maniacs, Karen White, Poison, Jeff Healey Band, Mike and the Mechanics, Eric B. and Rakim and Big Daddy Kane to name a few

• 1989 was the year we were introduced to Nintendo’s portable game system, “Game Boy”, Tetris Sega Genesis, Trolls, Polly Pockets and The Energizer Bunny 

• Time Inc. and Warner Communications merged forming Time Warner, Eastern Airlines went bankrupt, 135 acre Disney MGM Studios was opened for the first time to the public, California Quake opened at Universal Studios, the Wonder of Life Pavilion opened at Disney World, Mega XL-200 opened at Cedar Pointe amusement park - the world's largest and fastest roller coaster, the Mirage Hotel and Casino(the first huge resort hotel), opened in Las Vegas, construction for the first McDonald’s in the USSR began, Sony purchased Columbia Pictures for $3.4 billion CASH and groundbreaking began in Minnesota on the world’s largest mall

• PTL evangelist Jim Baker was convicted of tax fraud, Oliver North was convicted for his part in the Iran-Contra affair, Leona Hensley, billionaire hotel operator, was convicted of tax fraud, Lyle and Erik Menendez shot their wealthy parents to death in Beverly Hills,California and serial killer Ted Bundy was executed

• In 1989 we also saw the beginning of freedom around the world...the 1st free elections were held in the Soviet Union, Poland and Czechoslovakia, the borders separating East and West Germany were officially opened - the Berlin Wall came down, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and US President George Bush, Sr declared the Cold War to be over, US troops ousted Panama President Manuel Noriega, APEC is founded, Desmund Tutu led the biggest anti-apartheid protest march in South Africa, P.W. Botha resigned as president of South Africa and F.W. de Klerk became the 7th and last state president of an apartheid South Africa, Zimbabwe gained independence, "Solidarity" was in the Polish election and Ide Amin was expelled from Zaire

• But 1989 was a tumultuous year also, as it brought us the Tiananmen Square demonstrations and massacre, the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, Hurricane Hugo, which struck the Carribbian islands and the southern part of the United States, an earthquake in the San Francisco-Oakland region of northern California, killing 67 people and delaying the 89' World Series for 10 days(I actually saw it live on t.v.) and the 1st Al-Queda related cell in the U.S. began operating in New York City

• 1989 brought us America's 1st African-American governor since Reconstruction(Douglas Wilder of Virginia), the 1st African-American mayor of New York(David Dinkins) and Barbara Harris, an African-American, became the first woman to be ordained bishop in the Episcopal Church in the US 

• To wrap up my list of some of the 89' happenings, here are a few more interesting facts...the University of Phoenix enrolled 8 students as the world's first on-line campus, the B2 Stealth bomber took it's first test flight, the highest overnight temperature was recorded in Phoenix, Arizona at 93 degrees and the lowest temperature in Black Hills, South Dakota at -60 degrees, North and South Dakota celebrated their 100th birthdays, Voyager 2 took the first pictures of Neptune and discovered its moon, Florida and Virginia were the first states allowed by the FBI to use DNA genetic fingerprints, Reverend Billy Graham was given the 1900th star on Hollywood Blvd, the Department of Veterans Affairs was officially established as a Cabinet Department, the first Spanish commercial aired on network television during the Grammy Awards, a 4,400 year old mummy was found in Egypt, a 150 million year old fossil egg was found, the 1,100,000,000th Chinese was born, and for one second on June 7th the time was 1:23:45 6/7/89(get it)? :-)

1989 was quite a year and the 80's was definitely my "coming of age" decade. It saw me in middle school, junior high school, high school, college, marriage and motherhood...WOW, that's a lot in 10 years...ya think?! :-)  But the best thing it brought...was the union between Todd and I. The coming together and making of what I consider our finest work yet...the making of a family that serves God!! The past 25 years had it's ups and downs, but the ups far outweighed the downs, why? Because we sought Godly wisdom and applied it to our marriage. I couldn't have asked for a better husband than Todd and I'm so grateful God blessed me with him and our beautiful children!! I need to add that Todd will celebrate his birthday, Thursday, January 9th. YES, he was one of those ones who married close to his birthday...IKR! :-) HAPPY BIRTHDAY hon!

 
I'll leave you with this quote from Christian author Nancy Leigh DeMoss, "The ultimate purpose of marriage is not to make us happy, but to glorify God"! And glorify God with our marriage is what we've done, but it's so awesome to have the "happiness/joy"...to me it's the icing on the cake!! Here's to US and 25+ more!!

Our family over the past 25 years...

All Rights Reserved copyright© 2012-2014 Michell Pulliam “Prowess and Pearls” by Michell Pulliam

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