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Thriller, an oldie but a goodie
Trinity had her school program today. She had a solo and so Jon and I went. Couldn’t miss our girl on stage singing, "Science Genius Girl" by Freeze Pop. The band is entirely Jon’s doing. I’m not a big one for techno anything, but Jon and Trinity love it. But there was an interesting moment when the students who were announcing the various acts said, "And now an oldie but a goodie," and it was Michael Jackson’s "Thriller".
Jon sort of slumped in his seat. I patted him on the back, leaned in to whisper, "Seeing your youth fly before your eyes?"
He nodded. "It can’t be an oldie yet."
I didn’t argue just gave comfort. He was seriously weirded out by it. Moments before I came to my office to blog this, Jon said, "It’s only been twenty-five years. It’s not an oldie." Then I started doing math in my head.
"Jon, you weren’t old enough for this to be the music of your youth."
He started doing math in his head then and realized he’d been nine when "Thriller" came out. He turned to me and said, "Add twelve to nine. You were twenty-one."
Apparently, it was my youth being called an oldie but a goodie. Strangely, it didn’t bother me. Maybe I’m spending too much time with friends, and a husband, that are ten years, or more younger than I am. Or maybe it’s that I don’t think of "Thriller" as my music. I didn’t listen to commercial radio at twenty-one. I’m actually not a big fan of eighties music. My favorite music starts in the nineties to now. I’m always finding a new band that I love. I remember one cook-out when I was still married to my first husband, and we were with his oldest sister, her husband, and their friends. They were playing things that had been big when most of us had been in high school. I and the fifteen-year-old nephew were not enjoying the music. I finally couldn’t stand it, and went to the host and said, "I’ve got music in my car that was actually made this decade. I’ll let you borrow it." He looked at me as if I’d said a bad thing. Maybe one of the reasons I’m not attached to the sounds of my high school and college years is that’s it wasn’t my glory years. High school is something you get through so you can go to college. College is what you do so you can get a job and be a grown-up. I love being a grown-up so much more than I ever liked being a kid. Life just gets better, and if you’re doing it right being a grown-up just means being more of who you always were, not losing yourself, but finding yourself.