Goodbye 2010s - Grace McDonough

After a bit of pondering on what story I should put on display for the topic of creative writing, I realized that my idea bank is completely dry. So, as they say, write from experience!

The holidays are fast approaching, as they always are and with it, a new decade. 2020. That's a big one. When we look back in time, it seems as if everything gets classified by the decade. The '70s are groovy, the '80s are colorful, the '90s are... slimy? All I can think of is Moon Shoes and Nickelodeon-gak. And Rugrats. For some reason, our culture has always been obsessed with nostalgia. The kids that got inspired grew up, and they draw from their childhood, which then inspires the next generation, who writes about their childhood and so forth.

For us, that means our generation is going to reflect on the 2010s when we're our parents' age, just the same way they talk about the '80s. It's scary but it's true. Instead of comic books and magazines, we'll be telling our children about TikTok (yikes). That got me thinking about what memories I'm going to look back on as shaping my childhood. I mean technically I was born in 2003 but let's be real I can't really even remember things before 7th grade.

I'll remember midnight beach-side bike rides,
parking-lot shopping cart drives.
And manhunt in the woods,
playing pool games on the lake-side docks.
Finding every couch cushion in the house for towers and forts.
Sliding down the steps in discarded boxes.
Going to Germany.
Going to Mexico.
Playing soda-surrogate beer pong.
Breaking my fingers in foosball matches.
Hating Justin Beiber just because.
Trading Halloween candy with the neighbors down the street.
Telling secrets, scary stories, awful jokes.
Organizing times to meet up on Club Penguin, ToonTown, and Runescape.
I don't even have to say it but... MINECRAFT!
Practicing Guitar Hero with my dad.
Learning to draw, learning to play violin.
Bringing my computer on long car rides to watch my Spongebob DVDs.
Youtube all day long.
Hating my siblings and loving my siblings.
Leaving my siblings and missing my siblings.
My cousins telling me they're going to church (they're going to Dave & Buster's).
Laying in the grass.
Painting my face.
Cotton candy and snowcones.
Ke$ha.
Birthday parties at gymnasiums that had those weird McDonald's play places.
Summer days spent at Mt. Creek.
Begging for silly bands and those little toy erasers.
Sneaking into R rated movies.
Riding my scooter to the bus stop each morning.
Running downstairs after school to play Ocarina of Time.
Super Smash Bros. tournaments (on Melee, obviously. Brawl is for weenies).
Making smores by a campfire.
And so much more.

My list could go on and on. I'm going to miss the 2010s. Our decade is now the past. Our first kisses, first heartbreaks, first jobs, obsessions, crazes, trends, fads, TV shows, movies, and music. I don't know about you reading this but this decade has memories that are going to last me a lifetime.
Here's to making some more!



(Why is my new haircut the same as what I had in 2010...................)