Thursday, April 29, 2010

America on Spring Break

The other day I was watching TV with Catherine and The Man from Snowy River was on. I was telling her how Uncle Gregg and I used to watch that movie a lot when we were little. (After it made it to cable, that is.)

Then the part came where the horses all go over the cliff and we talked about that. How amazing that was and the riding skillz involved.

She's been on a horse once, I think. I grew up with country relatives, so I occasionally rode horses as a child. When I was her age, I was scared of them. But after a few summers at Kueta (camp), they had me scraping hooves and combing tails and brushing horses down enough that... well, I was still a little scared of them, but at least I knew what I was doing.

Watching TMFSR made me think back, though. It seems like that was when Australia was really breaking onto the world stage. It was 1982. I don't remember when Mad Max came out, so I could be wrong, but up until then, it seems like Australia was just sort of wild and unknown.

I remember David Letterman once said to an Australian guest that Australia was like America on Spring Break. I thought that was So. Funny. Because that's pretty much how I'd always thought of it.

Now we think of Australia and we think Nicole Kidman, L O S T, Sydney Opera House, Finding Nemo...  They actually do get dressed and go to work Down Under. What a let-down.

Speaking of Letterman, I had an Indy friend shoot me a msg that he's sick of reading about how great south Alabama is and to write something about how cool Indianapolis is.

Have I mentioned how much I love you guys? That email made me LOL!!!

OK, A.E., I really liked living in Indianapolis.

Before I moved there, Richard lived in Indy but I was still in Louisiana. We had several discussions about how to get ourselves a little closer together and tossed out possible ideas for where we'd like to live, set up shop, raise kids, etc.

Richard went to law school at Vanderbilt, so he had many friends and contacts in Nashville. That was one possibility. I'd worked in my field in Baton Rouge for almost 10 years at the time, so that was another. Louisiana law threw a bit of a wrench in that plan, but Richard wasn't entirely averse to the idea.

Ultimately, I moved to Indy, and we were there for three more years. But my most lasting memory of those discussions was an email I sent that said "I just never imagined I'd end up in Indianapolis. Not in all my imagining..."

Richard of course, replied, "Well, I'd like to think we haven't ended..."

After moving there, I joined Richard in having a great, hilarious, fun-loving, supportive group of friends. We had three golden years in the Midwest that left me with memories as strong and dear as anywhere I've lived.

Almost half of the gang we ran with there have moved on as well to places like San Diego, Atlanta, Chicago... all great places to live.

So I might not've imagined living in Indianapolis, but I do miss it. It wasn't on the list, but it wouldn't have been such a bad place to end up.

4 comments:

Ex-pat Odessa said...

I think 1982 was when Men At Work were hitting the scene wasn't it??? They get dressed up for work, but the men still wear Speedo's to the beach, and bikini undies. Now THAT is Funny!!!

LTM said...

OMG, yes! M@W coming out, too. I wasn't very old in '82, so I can't really remember what all was happening... Were you even born??? ;p

Ex-pat Odessa said...

yes, I was born, I was hanging out with you late at night recording MTV!!! Okay, maybe that was later, like mid-late 80's, but still!! You were 11 in '82, I was 4. Not sure how, but I remember a lot of those songs!

JRichard said...

Road Warrior was 1979. Mad Max was about 1982, I think. Still not quite part of US pop culture by the time of Snowy River.