Seals & Crofts "Summer Breeze"

My 5th grade health class came directly from a magazine from Sea Breeze -- a company specializing in facial washes and astringents. In other words, our Catholic school clearly didn't mind our health class being sponsored by corporate America. Our teacher would have us read about how to properly care for our skin but encouraged us to skip over the parts about how Sea Breeze could clear up those pesky zits.

Amy Grant - "Baby Baby"

Sixth grade was a year of transition.  My parents pulled me from a Catholic school and enrolled me into the neighboring public school.  No longer a big fish in a small pond, my class size went from about 30 students to nearly 700.  For years, lunch time meant sitting at my desk and eating lunch.  Lunch morphed into eating with nearly 300 other kids in a large cafeteria that smelled of tater tots and stale chocolate.  That aside, the big smelly cafeteria did have an upside: a jukebox.  My sixth grade lunch not only included the scent of tater tots and stale chocolate, but also featured the vocals of Amy Grant.  Not a day during sixth grade seemed to go by without hearing "Baby Baby".

Dire Straits - "So Far Away"

I attended grade school at St. Joseph School -- a small Catholic school in the town of Dyer, Indiana.  I'm sure most people have a million memories of life in a Catholic school during the 1980s that include nuns, wearing uniforms, and singing "On Eagle's Wings".  While I certainly have memories like that, I'm also reminded of the response my teachers gave when I asked if I could go to the bathroom.  They would always ask, "Is it a dire emergency?".  For many years, I thought they were referring to the town of Dyer and asking if my needing to go to the bathroom was something that the town would consider an emergency.  Yep.  Apparently, you can't teach common sense...