It Seems Like Years Since It's Been Clear

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I think I vaguely remember Clinton's first election, I *think* that was the time when I asked my parents "Are we republicans or democrats?" and my father said "you can be whatever you want to be" and I said "I'm a democrat".

But I definitely do remember the kidnapping case of a girl named Jennifer Odom, which was the first time I remember ever hearing about people being kidnapped. At the time I found it so startling and weird (and it still is startling and weird, except for a different reason these days, obviously). It was 1993 and happened in my county, and some suspect had a blue truck that he painted a different shade of blue, and a neighbor on my street had also done the same thing recently (and I do remember that truck) and was worried people would suspect him (it wasn't him, of course).
When I got to physics class in 10th grade I had an anicent, ancient textbook with the name Jennifer Odom in it. It can't be the same girl because she was 12 when she died, but I was pretty freaked out by that.

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/02/16/Pasco/_Nothing_will_ever_be.shtml

Kind of about to cry now.


So, yeah. To answer that question, in February 1993 I was... 5ish? 4? I suck at math. But that definitely changed everything, because that's when I became really conscious of my parents and grandparents not letting me out of their sight. I mean, they had always been like that, I'd just never noticed it. And a lot of the kids shows from the 80s/early 90s were kind of weirdly obsessed with kidnappings, so I also started noticing the cartoons and things that warned kids never to leave their parents ever. It was really hard to realize that there are people in the world who would want to take you away from your family. That's a really heavy thing for a kid to have to think about.

-3:58 AM