Is what I always thought, but lately I’ve been questioning the validity of that.  . 

We have satellite radio in our car and I’ve been listening to 70’s on 7 and I know every word to nearly every song that comes on ~ from Shaun Cassidy’s “Da doo run, run, da do run, run” to Abba’s “Dancing Queen” to Elton John’s “Yellow Brick Road” and on and on and on.  How is that possible? 

I came of age in the 80’s.  The 80’s were the years of high school, listening to music, going to concerts, school dances…music defined me in the 80’s.  I listened to everything from Depeche Mode to Def Leppard to Wham!.  For goodness sake you would think I would know every word to every song in the 80’s but I don’t.  I turn on 80’s on 8 and there are so many songs on there I don’t know and don’t remember ever hearing.  How is that possible?

All of my musical memories have got me to thinking about my kiddos and where they will peg themselves when they look back on their lives.  Will they connect with the music of today?  I’m sure they will to some degree.  But I can say for absolute certain they will also connect with music from other eras.  We listened to the 70’s on 7 the whole way to and from Maine ~ that’s 30 hours of uninteruppted music time.  They could sing along with almost every song that came on.  I loved hearing their voices in the back of the van singing away to any imaginable 70’s tune.  I have no idea how they know these songs…do the tunes from the 70’s just magically work their way into the brains of all of us…kind of like osmosis?  Are these songs so insidious they just snake their way into our brains surreptiously permeating the deep dark recesses of our brains only to be pulled out again and again when the song comes blasting through the speakers?  They listen to their own music, from the present but they are remarkably adept at spanning generations of music. 

I like that.  I like that we all have spanned across the years, all of us loving music from other ages and stages.  Technically, I’m a child of the 80’s and technically my kiddos will be children of the new decade in a new century but for now, they’ll live in the 70’s through music.  Claire just came in and I asked her what her favorite song was from our 30 hours in the car…her response was “Hotel California.”  Gotta say, Girlfriend can choose ’em ~ one of my favorites too (had it on a mixed tape…how 80’s is that for you?)

With that and for the love of my children ~ here are the Eagles to take you back…