When you realize your parents brainwashed you..

Okay, so no chatty introduction today, let's just get right down to business..

My parents brainwashed me.. and I just realized it.

Today I turned on Pandora radio and randomly chose to put it on the 80's station. This was not weird to me at all. Apparently my co-workers think differently.

"Weren't you born in 1990?"
"How do you even know these songs?"
"I'm 37 and I don't even know this song!"

Uh.. I'm sorry I know all of the words to "Summer of 69" and almost every Journey song? But I know them because my parents brainwashed me, you guys. I swear!

Look, I'm making a list..

1.     I don't know all of the words or the titles of every song, but if a Pearl Jam song comes on, I immediately know it's Pearl Jam. Why? Because they were the ONLY cds my step-dad played in his car. So every single time we were in his car, we were listening to Pearl Jam.. or Mike&Mike sports talk radio. This went on for YEARS..


2.     I know what a double dribble is and I know what off sides means. Growing up my dad would practically force me to watch sports with him, aka he would be watching sports and I wanted to hang out with him, so I was also forced to watch. Every time I asked a question he'd answer, but then the next time we were watching, he'd quiz me about whatever he had told me the previous time. Over time I picked up quite a few things simply because I always wanted to pass his tests. Poor guy really needed a boy and not 2 girls.

 3.     My mom doesn't measure ANYTHING when she is cooking. A "dash" and a "pinch" are actual things to her. It actually annoys the crap out of me when I'm asking her for a recipe and she's like "then add about a 1/4 to a 1/2 cup of olive oil".. That's an awfully big difference, mother. But now I've realized, I'm exactly the same way. Don't ask me how much dill I added to *insert recipe here* because I just add until I think it's enough.

4.     Back in the good ol days when my brothers were at our house for the weekend, we always ate our meals all together at the dining room table. While at said dining room table, if we were telling a story and used improper grammar my step dad would say "what?" and we'd repeat the sentence and he'd said "what?" and this would go on until we corrected our grammar. Now I think I'm pretty darn good at grammar and I'm constantly correcting the poor grammar of others in my head. All because it was drilled into me at the dinner table.

5.     My parents forced me to listen to 80's music.. All the time. I remember growing up my mom would randomly have a day where she'd clean the house super good. These were good times to hide in your room and stay out of her way. Anyway, while she did this she always had music blasting throughout THE WHOLE HOUSE.. and a lot of the time it was some 80's music. More recently if we're outside in the pool, my parents are blasting 80's music out of the speakers. Car trips with my dad? Only 80's music. Ever. (and sometimes Zac Brown Band or Tim McGraw).. So really, do you blame me for knowing all of these 80's songs?
Brainwashed. Someone call child services on my parents immediately.

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Okay, I'm just kidding. I secretly love these things. I like that when a TV show references an 80s song or a movie from 1979 I usually know what they're talking about and I get the reference and it makes the show funnier.

I love that when I watched Pitch Perfect for the first time I immediately got all of The Breakfast Club references and it made the movie that much better for me. While the girl I went with didn't have a clue.

So I just like to consider myself "well-rounded" for knowing all of these things. I like watching a basketball game and knowing for the most part when it's a charge or a block. And I definitely don't think it's a bad thing that I know my grammar rules.. Even though I don't always follow them.

Christmas Card 2011.. typical family photo

Christmas Card 2012.. it's really a shame we're so normal

To make a long story longer.. I'm pretty dang lucky to have the parents I have.

Even though they've brainwashed me.