The Lost Years

Travelling in the car today a radio announcer back announced the last track with “oh yes, Robert Palmer, the great man who is no longer with us”.

Mr Shambles and I looked at each other “Robert Palmer is dead?” “When did that happen?”

I googled him and yes indeed, Robert Palmer left us in 2003.

“Oh 2003” says Mr Shambles “that’s why we didn’t know, Princess Child was three, I reckon we lost at least 5 years after she was born”.

He’s right. Like a long-ranging alcoholic blackout we’ve misplaced a lot of the detail after the turn of the century.

You see the beautiful Princess Child arrived with the new millennium and she never slept, not during the day and most certainly not at night. It was a good two years before we got a full nights sleep and even then it wasn’t consistent (she liked to lull us into a false sense of security by sleeping through a couple of times, and then unleashing a screaming all nighter to jar us back to reality).

This is when I took up drinking Coke and coffee – it was either that or speed –  but I went with the slow-death alternative rather than the fast track. I needed the caffeine hits to sustain me through my sleep-deprived stupor  – there were two kids to look after!

I’m sure things were happening in the world but they made little impression when we were just trying to make through each day without dropping dead from exhaustion.

I know there was an Olympics – I remember falling asleep at a friend’s house watching the Opening Ceremony – I can’t even argue it was a late night ’cause of the time zone difference – the games were in Sydney!

There was the tragedy of 9/11 which I did manage to get wind of, and then watched in horror on an endless loop as it unfolded on my television screen, crying as I hugged the troublesome baby. Also, Lleyton Hewitt won the US Open that year because my first thought when I heard of the attack on New York was do we know where Lleyton is? I don’t know the bloke at all, but he was the only Aussie I knew was in America, turns out our Prime Minister was there at the same time but I didn’t immediately think of him.

And there it ends, my total knowledge of the events of the first decade of the 21st Century. No matter how hard I try I cannot recall another fact either newsworthy, of current affairs stock or occurring in pop culture I draw a blank.

What songs were playing on the radio? Buggered if I know, it was all “Hot Potato” in our house.

What TV shows were popular? Again showing on our screen was “The Lion King” over and over.

Politics? Don’t make me laugh, I’m dealing with tantrum throwing toddlers I don’t need to know about the adult version taking place in Canberra.

The News? Were they still doing news bulletins? Papers, did they get printed back then?

I’m sure movies were released, books written, new talent unearthed and great people lost but I saw none of it. In my domestic bubble I lost touch with the world and spent my days fantasising about spending a night in bed – snoring uninterrupted.

To anyone out there currently battling with a non-sleeping baby, I feel your pain! I see Mamamia has released a new E-Book The Gift of Sleep written by a “sleep whisperer” who has achieved incredible results with her sleep program – this is in no way a sponsored post (god knows I don’t have the stats for any of that) but just a woman who, thanks to Robert Palmer, has had a flashback to a time of her life she thought would kill her and wouldn’t want anyone else to have to go through it for as long as she did.

Now, just because I’m late to arriving at the mourning for Robert Palmer doesn’t mean I don’t care. So in his memory and as a tribute to the decade of style and substance (cough, cough) – the 80’s, here’s a little bit of nostalgia.