1996 was a year of many firsts. My first car, my first cell phone (it was big and I had to share it,) my first real boyfriend (not a random foreigner or a little boy neighbor who sang to me), my first prom and my first time being the oldest kid in the house.
We were going to Southern Oaks Baptist Church and I absolutley loved my youth group! We had so much fun. It was one of those classic youth groups. I’ll always have fond memories of those fun times at camps, 5th quarters, and all the other great stuff. I had a ton of great friends through this time… One of the most special was Kristie Banks. She a school teacher just out of college and she worked with the youth. We hung out all the time and pretty much all of my favorite memories from my time in Tyler are with Kristie. Now, I am going to have to call her because this has made me miss her so much!
Did I mention that I homeschooled this year? Yep, I spent a year at home doing my work. Basically I spent a few months completing my years worth of work and then became a fan of “The Young and the Restless” and “The Guiding Light.” It was a fun time. I could go have lunch with my beau at his school and I worked at Honey-B-Ham making sandwiches for a little while this year too.
For my 16th birthday I got my first car. It was a 1989 Cutlass Cierra. It had a little computer in it that said welcome when you started up the car… It was a hot vehicle. My parent’s bought it from my Aunt Lana for my brother for his car and then they gave it to my when I turned 16 and he took the Suburban off to college. He left that year ETBU. Let me tell you how fun it was to have a brother who was a freshman in college. He and his friends would all come to my parent’s house for the weekend… Yes, that was fun for a 16 year old girl. 
My sister around this time was absolutely adorable. She was really kinda obsessed with Jan Crouch and she would have us all sit on her pretty daybed and she would dress up in a formal dress, high heels and put on a fur stole and she would preach to us at least once a week. Her dog Pearl would also be dressed up in her Sunday’s best and every week during the altar call portion of the sermon Pearl would get saved. We have some of her sermons on audio tape somewhere, I would love to go back listen to those sweet sermons. She was a precious little girl.
Mom helping me get ready for my first prom... Love the sponge painted walls in my sister's room.
Summer Camp Fun after a mud fight with Kristie & Caitlyn. I love how tall I look in this picture.
Jan Crouch
President: William J. Clinton
Vice President: Albert Gore, Jr.
Population: 265,189,794
US GDP: $7,661.60 billion
Federal spending: $1572.41 billion
Federal debt: $5207.3 billion
Median Household Income: $35,492
Unemployment: 5.4%
No. 1 Song the week of February 12, 1996: One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men
Nobel Prize for Literature: Wislawa Szymborska (Poland)
Random Facts:
- Ella Fitzgerald, Carl Sagan, Tim Leary & George Burns all died.
- Tupac Shakur is shot and probably dies.
- Clinton appoints Madeleine Albright as first female US secretary of state.
- F.B.I. arrests suspected Unabomber.
Tags: 30 years