I know nothing of 90s pop culture because it was a blur of a decade for me

This picture was actually taken in September 2000 when Melanie was born. She turns 23 tomorrow. Happy early birthday, Mel!

Lately I've been seeing a lot of my younger friends writing nostalgically about the 1990s, and I laugh for two reasons:

(1) I remember 10-15 years ago posting fondly about my memories of the 80s and having people who graduated in the 60s and 70s chuckle because to them I was just a young'un and the 80s weren't that long ago. These 90s kids are pretty much right on schedule with their walks down Memory Lane.

(2) I retain very little of the period from, say, 1994 to 2000 because Terry and I spent those years having babies.

Well, to be accurate, Terry was the one having the babies. I was largely the one paying for them and spending my evenings and weekends changing diapers, setting up and taking down playpens, trying to get various infants to sleep, etc.

There's so much about the 90s that is simply a faint memory, and in many cases not even that.

For me, it was the decade when I got married, bought a house and started cranking out offspring.

For many others my age and somewhat younger, it was a decade of clubbing, ripped jeans and music I either don't remember or never liked in the first place.

Our experiences were, to put it mildly, a little different.

Now we're to the point that the 90s are three decades in the past and the subject of trivia questions I can't necessarily answer. I remember trying to pay attention to current events and popular culture of the time, but the only things that stick with me are the music of Raffi, the smell of baby spit-up, and Terry's frequent visits to the OB-GYN.

For a guy who graduated in 1988, I feel about 100 years old.