For me, 1981:
- my first ever taste of chapati, experienced while visiting the Indian family who lived across the street.
- a handheld General Electric tape recorder that I got for Christmas and which I used to record top hits off the living room stereo, by holding the microphone up to the speaker. (Songs I recorded included Kim Carnes's "Bette Davis Eyes" and Olivia Newton-John's "Physical.")
- the confetti I helped clean up off my grandmother's rec room carpet, the night that my aunt got married.
- the communion wafer I swallowed to tick another Catholic sacrament off my checklist.
- Raiders of the Lost Ark, viewed with my father at a theater downtown.
- being introduced to Mad magazine by my best friend.
- die-cast metal "dinky" cars kept in a blue plastic case.
And what, may I ask, was 1981 for you?
