101 Reasons to Be Thankful You Grew Up in the 1970s and 1980s

You got the best of all worlds, dude!

If you grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, consider yourself lucky.

I mean, you’re old enough to remember the good old days, but you’re still young enough to fully embrace all the good the new days have to offer, too.

So, as Thanksgiving descends upon us again, how about taking some time to remember why we should be thankful?

If you’re a child of the 70s and 80s, at least a few of these 101 awesome blessings from our youth should resonate with you.

Let’s talk turkey …

1. You survived the 1970s and 1980s.
2. You know what it’s like to play outside from dawn to dusk and beyond.
3. Your lungs are supercharged with today’s clean air because they adapted to pull oxygen from air that was 82% cigarette smoke.
4. You learned to play games before there were video games.
5. You got to play the first generation of video games in their first incarnation.
6. Your thumbs are super well-developed thanks to all those hours spent working out with your Atari joysticks.
7. You know how to use a rotary phone, should the need arise.
8. You know how to use a push-button house phone, should the need arise.
9. You know how to use a CB, should the need arise.
10. You know how to use a flip phone, should the need arise.
11. You know how to make an actual phone call on a smart phone, should the need arise.
12. You don’t know how to use a crank phone but can appreciate its simplicity and aesthetics.
13. You remember what it’s like to be a human antenna and could reprise the role if need be.
14. Transistor radios taught you how to distinguish between signal and noise.
15. You can write in cursive.
16. You can type on a typewriter.
17. You can type on a computer keyboard.
18. You can type on a Trash-80 keyboard. (The TRS-80 is more of a cultural phenomenon than a computer.)
19. You can’t type worth a damn on a smart phone because of your fat old fingers, but it’s all good because you love a challenge.
20. You can type using your voice on a smart phone but choose not to.
21. Your brain can fill in the details when it encounters a pixelated image.
22. You know what real cartoons look like and sound like.
23. You recognize that “animated” is usually code for “crap” in the 21st century.
24. You had the freedom to roam around the (moving) car when you were a kid.
25. You rode in the back of a pickup truck all summer long.
26. You sat in a lawn chair in the back of a pickup truck until your dad took a corner too fast and threw you overboard, then ran over the lawn chair but somehow missed you. Then, you just rode in the back of a pickup truck without the lawn chair.
27. You drank Mountain Dew while riding in the back of a pickup truck all summer long.
28. You squirted Mountain Dew out of your mouth at every opportunity because it looked like you were peeing.
29. You learned that math was absolute, and none of your word problems contained the phrase, “about how many.”
30. You know that the Oxford comma is required for any civilized written discourse.
31. You know how to diagram a sentence.
32. You know how to tell time on a clock with a face.
33. You know how to write a check.
34. You know how to balance a checkbook.
35. You know how to solve a Rubik’s Cube by taking it apart and putting it back together.
36. You know how to solve a Rubik’s Cube by pulling all the stickers off and putting them back on in the right places.
37. You would never pull the stickers off a Rubik’s Cube because you know it’s impossible to put them back on straight and without wrinkles.
38. You know the books showing you how to solve a Rubik’s Cube by twisting it this way and that are total BS.
39. You know that scratch-and-sniff stickers also work well in scratch-and-taste mode.
40. You know what it’s like to ride your bike downhill as fast as you can on a gravel road with the air tearing through your unfettered hair and shorts-clad legs. Without a shirt. Or shoes.
41. You know what it’s like to pick gravel out of your skin and push your bike back up that gravel road while relishing the memory of the exhilaration and ignoring the blood.
42. You know what the inside of a Stretch Armstrong doll looks like.
43. You know Big Hair will come back in style someday, and you’re ready.
44. You have fond memories of the BetaMax v. VHS wars.
45. You know that DVDs came before either BetaMax or VHS.
46. You watched Seinfeld first-run.
47. You watched Sandford and Son in syndication.
48. You watched The Brady Bunch in syndication
49. You watched Good Times in syndication.
50. You watched The Good, the Bad and the Ugly on the local independent channel on election night, even though it flouted your Oxford comma edict.
51. You got high on Super Elastic Bubble Plastic at least once a year.
52. You got high on model glue — accidentally, mind you — several times a year.
53. Your mom made you Chef Boyardee pizza when she loved you.
54. Your mom made you Chef Boyardee spaghetti when she really loved you — or when she had something bad to tell you.
55. Beverly Cleary is still alive.
56. Judy Blume is still writing.
57. Franklin W. Dixon will never die.
58. You remember when music videos were special because they were only available on Friday nights.
59. You rode into the weekend on a steady diet of The Incredible Hulk, The Dukes of Hazzard, and Dallas.
60. You spent Saturday morning with real cartoons.
61. You spent Saturday night with The Love Boat and Fantasy Island.
62. Having a computer at college was optional.
63. You got to live out Lord of the Flies every day in junior high gym class.
64. You got to dance with a real live girl during the square dance unit in gym class no matter how much of a dweeb you were.
65. Your parents didn’t spend all their money on a house.
66. Your parents were strict and made you get your crap together.
67. Your parents weren’t afraid to discipline you.
68. Your dad could kick your ass, and you were better for knowing that.
69. Your principal could kick your ass, you were better for knowing that.
70. Your teachers were right.
71. Your mom was always right.
72. Your mom is still right.
73. You can drive a stick shift (right?).
74. Your body will never lack for mercury thanks to all those nifty fillings.
75. You can still operate a TV when the remote breaks.
76. You can change the oil in your car. Or, at least you can change the oil in the car you drove in 1985.
77. You understand clearly that … cholesterol is evil … cholesterol is wonderful … smoking is cool … smoking is the Antichrist … salt will kill you … lack of salt will kill you … we will have flying cars by 2000 … we will never have flying cars … marijuana is a gateway drug … marijuana will save humanity.
78. You remember when people came home from work and, well, that was it.
79. You remember how awful it was to carry a pager.
80. You remember how pagers were less intrusive than cell phones.
81. You remember being amazed at picking up a Topeka AM radio station in the middle of the night and wondering what people were like way over there.
82. You got out of school before Memorial Day.
83. You went back to school late in August or after Labor Day.
84. You didn’t have Fall Break, but Christmas Break felt like it lasted until Valentine’s Day.
85. You didn’t have to make up snow days.
86. You laughed at your granddad when he fell asleep after every meal.
87. You were going to do big things with your life.
88. Going to college gave you a real advantage.
89. High school graduation was a big deal.
90. You witnessed the birth of the Happy Meal.
91. You had Burger Chef Fun Meals way before the first Happy Meal ever grease-stained a car seat.
92. The Wonder Years was a little too on-point — especially the finale.
93. Your dad was a real superhero.
94. Your mom could fix anything.
95. You discovered pumpkin pie.
96. You discovered Bing Crosby Christmas music.
97. You were alive when Elvis was alive (hint: he’s still alive).
98. You experienced Star Wars before the prequels crapped all over the franchise.
99. You could play with any hunk of junk for hours because you had unbridled imagination.
100. Christmas was truly magical.
101. You spent holidays with your whole smelly family … and wish you could do that one more time.