Time passes so quickly that it's actually scary. Things happen before your eyes. Life happens before your eyes. Sometimes I think I have a warped concept of time (not because I'm perpetually late), but because I get confused about just how old I am and how long it's been since ____. (fill in the blank with said event). Maybe this is true for everyone. Y'all know I love music from the 90s and bump it freely in my car (oh wait, I don't have one)....scratch that, in Poppa's truck, and it's all over my ipod. So, the other day, I was riding in the car with my Dad and he is listening to the 60s on 6 and jammin' to a song. I started thinking about music and what it means to me and how it takes me back to particular feelings, times, and places and wondered if it was the same for him. I asked him, "hey, what does that song remind you of?" (bad grammar, ending with a preposition - sorry). He quickly replied with a description of a scenario of being 15 years old and his bff at the time was 16 and they were cruising around and trying to date some hoes. Okay, so he didn't really say the part about hoes, but I know that's what he was meaning. That's why I love music!!! It's so universal and cross generational! Anyhoo....I listen to the 90s and get all lost in the teenage angst and falling in love, etc. Then, I forget about who I am talking to, and reference it like it was last week on the top 20. Sometimes this is followed by strange looks and statements by a special friend as in "now, who is Nirvana? I think I've heard of them before". Oy vey! Seriously! I forget!
I have some friends that are considerably younger than me. Um, like a decade and more. A couple of them who have just graduated from high school. I talk to them and get all excited and feel young and fun and kinda cool because those feelings can be recalled so freshly! Much like I'm a college sophomore who has "been there" and is giving great advice. Then, I get into my car, jam my 90s and think to myself, 'omg, am I that wierdo creeper who is trying to relive her youth? Are they straight joking on me when I walk off?' I have always promised myself not to be the youth re-liver. I don't want to be that mom that the teenagers joke on because she thinks she's "one of them". I don't want to be the mom who is inappropriately dressed because she's raiding her daughter's closet in hopes to be hip. I don't want to be the mom who is clubbin' with her kid or buying beer for the underagers or letting everyone smoke because she wants to be accepted by the teens. This said, I just wanna bump my 90s music freely, even if it's a little dorky, re-hash my "glory days" in a cool way, not an Al Bundy "that one time we won 2nd place at Nationals was the only thing I've done good in my life" way, and be the fun mom who lays down the law when appropriate, who still has her own hobbies, who is an example for her daughter and her friends. I want them to value my opinion because they view me as a Godly woman who loves her Lord, her family, and her friends unconditionally. I don't want to be afraid to 'make someone mad'. I want to be a sounding board for these girls, I want our house to be the safe place. They will just have to get over my 90s music and my little "glory days" stories! Please pray for me that I can be this kind of Mom for my daughter and woman for the younger generation who might look to me for an example!
I don't quite know where I was going with this blog...all this talk about graduation has made me realize that mine was 15 years ago! What? I know that the 1996 Olympics and the Magnificent 7's gold medal was last summer, right? Gosh. Time flies! Happy Graduation, from us oldies but goodies!
Great post!
ReplyDelete