decade [de-'kAd]
a period of ten years; group or series of ten
Synonyms include: being, continuance, course, cycle, days, epoch, era, extent, generation, period, pilgrimage, record, season, span, time

Janet Jackson released a cd titled "Design of a Decade," and since then I've often wondered what that meant...to her, to me...to each person who celebrates another 10 years of life. Most of us are nearing that milestone; dare I say it again, 30, and it doesn't take much for the creases on our foreheads, the quiver of our eyes and the sad wrinkles in our noses to appear at the thought of nature's most conniving prank of all: aging.

This past Saturday, we celebrated Joe's 28th with a 90's-themed birthday party. The fact that enough years have gone by that we were able to celebrate in such a way makes me laugh. While the 80's will always remind me of my childhood, the 90's, for a lot of us, remains to be the pivotal decade of change.

We bid farewell to items sold at your local Kay Bee Toys and Toys 'R' Us, opting to spend our allowance and birthday money at the GAP, Red Eye, Contempo Casual, Judy's, Oak Tree, Structure and Express. At 11 or 12 years told, we began design on our very own decade; from the way that we dressed, to the music we listened to, not to mention the attitude we strutted through shopping malls and arcades.

In the 90's, we finished the last few years of elementary school and junior high, got through high school AND attended college! We experienced 3 types of regulated social environments through the eyes of education all in one decade. This decade really witnessed our growth and that's why I think it means so much to us.

To hear familiar 90's songs on the radio, at a club or at a party is like getting warped to half our lifetime ago, when homework was just homework (no lengthy research papers or projects), crushes weren't so saturated with "circumstances," and working at the mall or a theme park for minimum wage provided more than enough money to have fun. Living in the 90's, at the ages that we were...it just worked.