Summer of 1993

Ah, the Summer of 1993! I had just finished up 6th grade and was a few months away from my 13th birthday. Sports had become my life, especially basketball, the weather was crazy hot and Janet Jackson was topping the charts with her song "That's The Way Love Goes".

Me and my Dad didn't really spend too much time together unless it was sports related. He worked in the day and most evenings I was off doing something stupid with my friends. Our paths rarely crossed, but one major pop culture phenomenon put an end to all that in June of 1993.

The movie Jurassic Park was unleashed on the world and my Dad, being the sci-fi fan that he is, decided he was going to take me to see this movie in the theater. Not me, my 2 brothers, my 2 sisters and my Mom, just me and him. This was so unusual, that it shocked me at first, but then it became clear that he wanted to connect with me. Maybe it was because I was about to become a teenager or maybe it was just to get to know each other. Anyway, he made this trip a pretty big deal.

We stopped at a local comic shop and picked up some of the newest issues of the Superman comics. This was a huge time for the series as Superman had just recently been killed by Doomsday, his friends had a funeral for him and now 4 new Supermen were being introduced! AMAZING! I gotta say, my favorite of the 4 was John Henry Irons aka Steel.

While there, I also remember picking up a few packs of the 1992 Skybox Dream Team cards. Me and my brother were trying to complete a second set and all we needed was one dang Charles Barkley card to do so! It didn't happen from these packs, but many years later I just gave up the pack chase and purchased the card off ebay. Now me and my brother own a set of these cards.

After this surprise trip to the comic shop, we eventually made it to the theater and saw the blockbuster movie of the summer, Jurassic Park! It was mind blowing! The action was fast, the special effects were fantastic and the story was entertaining. After the credits rolled the entire audience applauded and so did I. It was the first and only time I experienced that in a movie theater.

Since experiencing this cinematic miracle, there was much discussing that needed to be done. Where else better to do that than at my favorite restaurant, McDonalds. Not only was this my pick for place to eat, but they were also waist deep in their own Jurassic Park promotional campaign!

We both "Dino-Sized" our meals and had some great one-on-one time between father and son. Not sure what we talked about, but I'm sure it was great. We walked away with 2 Jurassic Park cups. I know I got the Dilophosaurus and I think my dad got the Raptor cup.

It would be a long time before me and my Dad did anything like that again, but anytime I drank out of that JP cup, it brought back some great memories from that one cool Summer day in June of 1993!