I can’t say that I’ve ever felt an age so much as a weight and this year is slightly uneventful because my age isn’t a standard landmark like 40, 50, or 100. To celebrate my non-milestone, I decided to take a peek into what life was like back when, as my friend Tonya says, I escaped from my mother’s womb in 1973.
Our President, Richard Nixon, was knee-deep in the Watergate scandal and, due to his own paranoia, thought it would be a good idea to record every conversation that had anything to do with him and his cohorts breaking the law. We all know how that worked out for him. He was still in office on my birthday and spent the evening at a movie called “The Last of Sheila” which I’ve never had the pleasure of viewing.
Speaking of entertainment, two of the most horrifying movies I’ve ever seen were released in 1973: “The Exorcist” and “Deliverance.” Both were deeply disturbing for different reasons and one convinced me that I never want go canoeing unless I’m heavily armed. On December 1st, “Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World” debuted. Apparently the movie was based on a sheep dog eating a bowl of misplaced “Project X” and hilarity ensued.
Our country was struggling with gas prices which skyrocketed to about 40 cents a gallon thanks to an embargo imposed by OPEC. An average house would set you back around $32,500 and a year’s salary was close to $13,000.
In other news, Secretariat captured the coveted Triple Crown, U.S. troops began withdrawing from Vietnam, the Miami Dolphins won the Super Bowl, and the World Trade Center was the tallest building in the world. The Grateful Dead played a concert at Boston Music Hall on the day of my birth, but it was the Carpenters who topped the charts that week with their song “Top of the World.”
In 1994, my husband and I saw the Grateful Dead in Miami. The parking lot had a carnival-like atmosphere and women wearing long, flowing skirts were literally spinning in the hallways. My husband was doing his best to avoid them because his arm was in a sling and he really didn’t want to chance an impact. This was the first and last Dead show we attended.
Some interesting personalities share my birthday too, though not the same year. Bette Midler, Richard Pryor, Madame Tussaud, and Carol Alt were all born on December 1st. One incredibly notorious character also has the same birthday: Pablo Escobar, a Colombian drug lord and all around bad guy. He was killed the day after his 44th birthday. His existence proves that not all Sagittarius try to make people laugh.
My actual birthday this year was wonderful. My classmates threw a little party for me on lunch break at school and all signed a card that was pleasantly inappropriate; nursing students possess a sick sense of humor.
When I got home, my husband took me to The Spa at Hammock Falls where I received an incredible massage and pedicure. I highly recommend this business to anyone interested, but you will leave with a bad case of the yawns. A perfect end to a perfect day.
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