As the Beatles Say…
“It was 20 years ago today…”
In the week of July 14, 1990, the following happened:
After meeting with West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev reluctantly gives his blessing to a united Germany in NATO, stressing that a united Germany must choose its alliance. President George Herbert Walker Bush welcomed Gorbachev’s change of position. Removing the last big obstacle to a single German state, Poland declares itself “entirely satisfied” with firm new border guarantees. Reunification is expected to come December 2 with all-German elections. President Mikhail S. Gorbachev orders the immediate diversification of the Soviet Union’s state-run radio and television system, so that all political movements will have access to the airwaves, ending the Communist Party’s monopoly.
In news closer to my neck of the woods:
Cincinnati native and baseball star Pete Rose is sentenced to five months in prison and fined $50 thousand for cheating on his taxes. Rose failed to report $354 thousand in income from baseball memorabilia sales autograph appearances and from monies made from gambling, for which he was banned from baseball.
Bestselling books include:
Coyote Waits – Tony Hillerman
The Burden of Proof – Scott Turow
Message From NAM – Danielle Steel
The Stand – Stephen King
An Inconvenient Woman – Dominick Dunne
Dave Barry Turns 40 – Dave Barry
Men At Work – George F. Will
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton – Edward Rice
Barbarians At The Gate – Bryan Burrough/John Helyar
Top albums include:
I’m Breathless – Madonna
Please Hammer Don’t Hurt Em – M.C. Hammer
Poison – Bell Biv DeVoe
Pretty Woman – Soundtrack
Wilson Phillips – Wilson Phillips
Step by Step – News Kids on the Block
Violator – Depeche Mode
Soul Provider – Michael Bolton
Brigade – Heart
Shut Up and Dance – Paula Abdul
I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got – Sinead O’Connor
And playing at the movies:
Die Hard 2 – Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, William Atherton, John Amos
Ghost – Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg
Days Of Thunder – Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman
Disney’s – The Jungle Book (reissue)
Ford Fairlane – Andrew Dice Clay
Quick Change – Bill Murray, Geena Davis, Randy Quaid, Jason Robards
Dick Tracy – Warren Beatty, Madonna
Total Recall – Arnold Schwarzenegger
Another 48 Hours – Edie Murphy, Nick Nolte
The Jetsons
Robocop – Peter Weller
Navy Seals – Charlie Sheen, Michael Biehn, Joanne Whalley-Kilmer, Bill Paxton
Pretty Woman – Richard Gere, Julia Roberts
Betsy’s Wedding – Alan Alda, Molly Ringwald
Thanks to Mr. Pop History for that walk down memory lane.
July 14 is also Bastille Day, named for the storming of the Bastille prison that marked the beginning of the French Revolution. So, for all my French readers and fans of all things French, “Vive la France!”
Most important to me, however, is that July 14 marks the day that I made the most important commitment of my life. It’s the day I got all dressed up in a frilly white gown, rode to the church in a horse-drawn carriage, walked down the aisle on the arm of my tuxedo-clad father, and married my best friend. Several things stand out in my mind about that evening: it was warm, but it wasn’t stifling hot like I expected it to be; the priest presiding over the ceremony had a broken arm; I giggled when I saw there were gnats in my bouquet of silk flowers; the overwhelming feeling of gratitude and love I had when I saw so many of my friends and family in the congregation; looking at the sparkling diamonds on my finger after we exchanged rings, dazzled and amazed; kissing my new husband while flashes went off all around us. It was a beautiful ceremony, a loud, fun reception, and a wonderful honeymoon on the East Coast.
It was 20 years ago today. And it was the start of the best years of my life.
My husband is still my best friend. He’s the one I think of first whenever something exciting happens, or when I need someone to console me. He’s a great listener, a fixer, a get-it-done kind of guy, with a wicked sense of humor and killer blue eyes. He’s a wonderful father to our two boys; he’s an amazing writer, musician, thinker, and partner. He has sacrificed so many of his own dreams for our family, and I couldn’t be more grateful to him for that.
I hope someday I can help him to realize the dreams he has yet to achieve. I hope that, when our boys are out of school and off on their own, we can travel, see the places we’ve dreamed about, and maybe retire in a nice little cottage by the sea or a lake. I hope that we both live to be very old and healthy as horses so we can continue to appreciate our lives and each other. I hope that we’ll have grandchildren and great-grandchildren to cherish, but that we’ll always put each other first in our lives.
Happy 20th anniversary, Keith. I cherish you and the life we’ve built together. Let’s build some more, babe.