Happy Birthday à moi!!!

 

I was born 59 years ago today, in 1963. That same year, Harvey Ball created the yellow smiley face that became wildly popular and spread across the country on buttons and tee shirts. (The granddaddy to today's emojis). It was like a sign from the universe, letting the world know that my arrival was a time of happiness! (Never mind that this was also the year that valium became available.)  😛 😏

Verily I entered the earthplane at a tumultuous time of upheaval and change. The civil rights clashes were raging, the Beatles were invading, and the race was on to see who could get to outer space first ---the US astronauts, or Timothy Leary? What a time to start being alive!! 

Even the food was otherworldly.  The year of my birth, the gelatin mold held sway and Chicken A la King was king. 

                                Gelatin Mold

                                                                        Chicken A la King ---YUM??? 

The gelatin molds in particular looked like they were about to blast off. I'm convinced this trend came out of the space craze and the need to evoke rocket ships and orbits in everything, even our dinner. 

Observe the yellow galaxy-shaped bowl I grew up with:

Bombarded with imagery of the space-age, it's no wonder I developed a love for anything having to do with space. My favorite breakfast cereal was Quisp ---the spaced out corn bits that were shaped like flying saucers. It showed up on grocery shelves in 1965. 

                   

 I'm amazed we were able to talk my mom into buying Quisp, but with a beguiling Martian like this on the box, how could anyone just roll their shopping cart on by? 

Today some 50+ years later we've actually landed on Mars and though you can't find Quisp in the store, you can buy it online on the interwebs. Civil rights clashes are still raging, two of the Beatles are still creating, and Timothy Leary's transcendental flights are taking off again.    

What a time to keep being alive!  😃😀😎😊