Can I just say I am pumped about the New Kids reunion? These guys were a huge part of my childhood. I remember listening to them as I fell asleep every night. My parents must have felt sad when their little girl graduated from listening to a Disney tape with kid’s songs like “The Green Grass Grows All Around” and “In the Good Old Summertime” to “Hangin’ Tough” and “Please Don’t Go Girl” overnight. I would imagine myself as one of their backup dancers and I would choreograph dances to all their songs as I fell asleep.
One of the few male “Barbies” I owned was a Joe McIntrye doll I got for Christmas. Joe was the good looking younger man that stole the heart of the prettiest Barbie girl in my harem of Barbies. There was only two other Ken dolls. One that had plastic blonde hair, and one with a shock of black hair (he was not a true Ken). Blonde Ken was always the father of the harem of girls and black-haired Ken was the preacher. There was always a BEAUTIFUL wedding where pretty blue-eyed, blonde curls Barbie (usually with a very girly name like Kimberly or a very unusual name like Amberley or a pop culture name like Melody – taken from Hey Dude! of course) married Joe with all of her sisters as bridesmaids and a few old biddy Barbies as spinster aunts in the audience. She wore a white gown with organza overlay and a satin skirt. The dress was strapless with a pink strap around the chest and a glittery bodice. The skirt conveniently came off to reveal a swim suit for Barbie (not a feature you find on a lot of wedding dresses these days) The groom wore his letterman jacket (no shirt) and fake denim blue jeans. The bride and groom were both barefoot, as was the entire wedding party. It was quite romantic. Matt and my vows were eerily similar to what was said at these festive events. You would think I watched a lot of soap operas as a child, but in truth, I just had a big imagination. Then they would speed off to their honeymoon destination (across the room) in a high-heeled shoe (a perfect Roadster for a Barbie on the go) where they would awkwardly twist their heads and consummate the marriage with a smiling kiss. Joe was quite the catch being a pop star and all.
My New Kids on the Block tape, their second album – Hangin’ Tough - was a Christmas present as well – leading to the final evidence for me that Santa Claus was not a real person. I had put this tape on my Christmas list (I was probably in the 2nd grade) and we were in Regency Square mall doing some family Christmas shopping. It was a big deal to be in the mall on the Florence side of the river and we had just eaten dinner at Morrison’s so it was a big day. We saw some kids that went to church with us, Julie and Chris Kimbrough, in the music store that was up, almost in the corner by Sears. I think it was called Babbage’s. I could be wrong. Although, I know there was a music store in Florence called Babbage’s back then. We went in but didn’t stay long because the store was full of teenagers. A few months later Julie was baby sitting me and I was showing her my NKOTB tape. She goes, “I knew you were going to get that, your parents gave us money to buy it for them after y’all left the store that day.” I was shocked. I already had some big doubts about the whole Santa Claus idea anyways. I didn’t know how one person pulled it off, I think I thought there was some sort of government gift program people called “Santa Claus” and they sent the presents to your house that your parents put out, but I hadn’t totally settled on my parents being Santa yet because it was just too easy and simple. Plus, I didn’t think my parents were cool enough to purchase the New Kids tape so I was really impressed when I got it as a present. I wasn’t crushed by this news from Julie, I was more embarrassed that she assumed I didn’t believe in Santa anymore, and I still kind of did and I felt like a baby.
My mother continued to impress me later that spring when I was going to a spend-the-night party and she was bringing my overnight bag to school on Friday afternoon. She had gone to Wal-Mart or Kmart that day and purchased the most awesome New Kids on the Block sleep shirt I had ever seen. I was so proud to wear it around all the girls at the party. I knew they’d be jealous. I had friends who had been to concerts, had NKOTB sheets, pillows and t-shirts, which I had never asked for because I wanted to use my requests for stuff wisely since the likeliness of me getting it was not always high. I had never dared to dream I would ever own something as frivolous as New Kids clothing, but I had a swinging pair of PJs that I still have today.
So you can bet I’ll be ordering some New Kids tickets and joining all the other 30 and late 20-something women who will be screaming our heads off and singing along to “Cover Girl” and “The Right Stuff (You Got It)”. I’ll even bring my Joe McIntyre doll and my special pajamas in the hopes of getting an autograph.
One of the few male “Barbies” I owned was a Joe McIntrye doll I got for Christmas. Joe was the good looking younger man that stole the heart of the prettiest Barbie girl in my harem of Barbies. There was only two other Ken dolls. One that had plastic blonde hair, and one with a shock of black hair (he was not a true Ken). Blonde Ken was always the father of the harem of girls and black-haired Ken was the preacher. There was always a BEAUTIFUL wedding where pretty blue-eyed, blonde curls Barbie (usually with a very girly name like Kimberly or a very unusual name like Amberley or a pop culture name like Melody – taken from Hey Dude! of course) married Joe with all of her sisters as bridesmaids and a few old biddy Barbies as spinster aunts in the audience. She wore a white gown with organza overlay and a satin skirt. The dress was strapless with a pink strap around the chest and a glittery bodice. The skirt conveniently came off to reveal a swim suit for Barbie (not a feature you find on a lot of wedding dresses these days) The groom wore his letterman jacket (no shirt) and fake denim blue jeans. The bride and groom were both barefoot, as was the entire wedding party. It was quite romantic. Matt and my vows were eerily similar to what was said at these festive events. You would think I watched a lot of soap operas as a child, but in truth, I just had a big imagination. Then they would speed off to their honeymoon destination (across the room) in a high-heeled shoe (a perfect Roadster for a Barbie on the go) where they would awkwardly twist their heads and consummate the marriage with a smiling kiss. Joe was quite the catch being a pop star and all.
My New Kids on the Block tape, their second album – Hangin’ Tough - was a Christmas present as well – leading to the final evidence for me that Santa Claus was not a real person. I had put this tape on my Christmas list (I was probably in the 2nd grade) and we were in Regency Square mall doing some family Christmas shopping. It was a big deal to be in the mall on the Florence side of the river and we had just eaten dinner at Morrison’s so it was a big day. We saw some kids that went to church with us, Julie and Chris Kimbrough, in the music store that was up, almost in the corner by Sears. I think it was called Babbage’s. I could be wrong. Although, I know there was a music store in Florence called Babbage’s back then. We went in but didn’t stay long because the store was full of teenagers. A few months later Julie was baby sitting me and I was showing her my NKOTB tape. She goes, “I knew you were going to get that, your parents gave us money to buy it for them after y’all left the store that day.” I was shocked. I already had some big doubts about the whole Santa Claus idea anyways. I didn’t know how one person pulled it off, I think I thought there was some sort of government gift program people called “Santa Claus” and they sent the presents to your house that your parents put out, but I hadn’t totally settled on my parents being Santa yet because it was just too easy and simple. Plus, I didn’t think my parents were cool enough to purchase the New Kids tape so I was really impressed when I got it as a present. I wasn’t crushed by this news from Julie, I was more embarrassed that she assumed I didn’t believe in Santa anymore, and I still kind of did and I felt like a baby.
My mother continued to impress me later that spring when I was going to a spend-the-night party and she was bringing my overnight bag to school on Friday afternoon. She had gone to Wal-Mart or Kmart that day and purchased the most awesome New Kids on the Block sleep shirt I had ever seen. I was so proud to wear it around all the girls at the party. I knew they’d be jealous. I had friends who had been to concerts, had NKOTB sheets, pillows and t-shirts, which I had never asked for because I wanted to use my requests for stuff wisely since the likeliness of me getting it was not always high. I had never dared to dream I would ever own something as frivolous as New Kids clothing, but I had a swinging pair of PJs that I still have today.
So you can bet I’ll be ordering some New Kids tickets and joining all the other 30 and late 20-something women who will be screaming our heads off and singing along to “Cover Girl” and “The Right Stuff (You Got It)”. I’ll even bring my Joe McIntyre doll and my special pajamas in the hopes of getting an autograph.
1 comment:
You are going to have to take a picture of that!!! LOL! That post cracked me up!
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