I just read on PopSugar--my go-to source for mindless celebrity gossip--that one of the great movies of my childhood was released 20 years ago this week--Pretty Woman. Good lord! Just one more thing to make me feel really, really, really old ... as if looking in the mirror every day isn't enough to do this.
Twenty years? It seems like it was just yesterday ... okay, maybe it seems like it was just 10 years ago ... but 20 years? No way!
I first saw this wonderful piece of chick flickery with my best friend, Kara. It was the night before my family boarded a plane in Kansas City for our two-year stint in Heidelberg, Germany. I remember my mom dropping Kara off after the movie and me staring out the back window at her as we drove away, bawling my eyes out. It was high drama. I was leaving my friends, my horse, my car, our awesome house and neighborhood. I really did think it was the end of the world. It wasn't.
I survived to experience many more angsty, emotional outbursts like this in the years that followed. There are so many wonderful things about growing up as an Army Brat but when you boil it all down, your childhood really is defined by picking up and moving and leaving people behind.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Despite all my griping about fine lines, dark circles, a scaled-back metabolism, and an aching back I wouldn't return to those days for anything in the world. I'm just fine right here where I am, thank you very much!