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I was 11 years old when Reagan took office. I didn't pay any attention to politics, really, but I remember the gas lines and that my mother worked, that something called inflation was bad, and I remember the nightly countdown of the Hostage Crisis on the evening news.

I remember coming in from the playground one day to find that the hostages were free, but I didn't equate this with Reagan. It took an 8th social studies class, with an interesting teacher to pique my interest. My parents really liked Reagan, and tended toward conservatism, but didn't KNOW that's what they were until he explained it to them, and showed them it's truth.

My girlfriends and I were Reagan fans by the '84 election. One battled terribly with her mother, who insisted upon calling him a warmonger. Kelly retaliated by answering the phone with, "Reagan-Bush '84" every time it rang.

I find myself baffled, sometimes, at how so many people could have lived through this time with me and turned out with different ideas. Reagan explained it, then he proved it. Seems pretty simple to me.

But not so simple, I guess. No politician has been able to quite do it since then.