I was born in 1977, and I had my prince when I was 40 years old, and my princess when I was 43, so I can assure you that when I tell them how my childhood and youth passed, they will not understand much.
My mother bought our first sound equipment in 1988, before that we only had a small radio where my grandmother listened to her radio soap operas, news, music. I don't remember listening to the soap operas on the radio, but what I loved was listening to my grandmother when she told them to me, she did it with great emotion.
There was a radio station in Valencia, Radio América whose dial is 890 AM, which was my grandmother's favorite.
The other station that she listened to frequently was Radio Rumbo, and it had a program at 6 in the morning, where the host ended with the phrase: You decide the course. It was a program of Christian reflections, hosted by a Catholic priest.
The first vinyl record was by Los Merenguitos, they were children's songs but with a tropical rhythm, my mom bought it to celebrate my sister's first birthday.
We also had a disc of poems by Andrés Eloy Blanco, recited by the venezuelan actor Raúl Amundaray. This album included the poem Grapes of the Time (Las Uvas del Tiempo), very popular to listen to on December 31 and cry to say goodbye to the year.
Later, little by little we acquired other productions, of course, those of the Menudo group could not be left out.
I even had an English Course, it included the classes on vinyl records and workbooks.
Over the years, when we replaced that stereo, we didn't keep any vinyl records.
My children will also not know about the adrenaline rush of running to record a song that was being heard on the radio. I would leave the cassette ready, just by hitting the record button, sometimes I would start recording it having already started the music, sometimes it only mattered that the lyrics were recorded so that I could copy them.
I have an anecdote about it, there was a song that I copied the lyrics and even though I had good spelling, I made a mistake that I had not realized. I was in high school, and one of my friends asks me: Are eyes written with a "h"?, to which I answered with a resounding and mocking: No!
Then she sees me, laughs and says: And why did you write it with a "h"? My jaw dropped, and we had a good laugh about it.
I don't expect my children to like the cartoons I used to watch. I also don't think my children understand why I cried when Anthony died in the Japanese series Candy Candy.
The other thing that my children will not understand is everything that could be bought with 5 bolivars in 1989, which after currency reconversions is almost zero (0.00000000000005 Bs). My mom gave me that amount for snacks, and I bought cookies or chocolates and soda).
If any of you had the opportunity to have a Walkman, you knew what it was like to feel empowered for the first time, to be able to listen to the music that I wanted regardless of what was in the environment, that was the best.
Thank you Silver Bloggers for helping me unlock these beautiful memories.