Music is the Beat of Life

Over the last couple of days (through the Valentine's Day frenzy), I was reflecting on my 14-year relationship with The Bohunk, and realized how many songs remind me of him and take me back to specific incidents we have shared. Like how "If" by Bread reminds me of the time we had a HUGE argument (we were in college and had only been going out for a couple of months or so), and I hid in my walk-in closet - then he came in and apologized, and I apologized, and that song just happened to be on the radio at the time. It then ended up being "our song" and was the song we chose to be our first dance when we got married. Then there's Sir Mix A Lot's "Baby Got Back" - The Bohunk used to work for a landscape company in Fort Collins, and one of his jobs was to mow the weeds on the side of Highway 287. He would be pushing the mower down the side of the highway, Walkman blaring, "singing" this song - because it reminded him of me....

Then I started thinking how much music reminds me of a lot of things that have happened in my life, and just hearing the song that I have associated with the event will whisk me back - like a low-priced time machine....sometimes the emotions associated with it come back as strong as ever, like it just happened. The short list:
"Ordinary World" - Duran Duran: my friend Mark Smith ('nough said)

anything by Metallica: my friend Chuck Brickman (he was the one to "turn me on" to them - I had to borrow his car once and that was all that was in the car to listen to. He died from a heart attack playing soccer at 27, so now "Nothing Else Matters" belongs to him. He also gets "Eruption" by Van Halen, because he was the only person I knew who could play it note-for-note just like Eddie.)

"Love Song" - Tesla: this one belongs to Steph (she had just broken up with a mutual acquaintance, and we had gone dancing to try and cheer her up...I requested the song, and put on a performance for her right in the middle of the dance floor - a lip-synched serenade, if you will. A little while after that, I introduced her to Tim, who she ended up dating, then marrying - they've been married almost as long as me!)

"Daughters" - John Mayer (I think): this one is recent, of course - for The Girl. She hadn't even been born yet, but I would hear the song on the radio, and the lyrics struck a chord (no pun intended).

There are so many more, and I can't remember more just now - usually they don't come to mind until I hear them, and then I am reminded and taken back - sometimes to a happy place, sometimes to a painful place. But good or bad, I cherish each one for what it is - a moment that has shaped the person I am today. My question: what are your favorite song-linked memories?

Since When Do You Dress Boys In Pink?

Ok, I've had enough. What do I have to do to make dense, unobservant strangers understand that I am carting around a baby GIRL!?!?!? Apparently, the sight of an infant in a pink outfit with a pink hat covered in a pink blanket (all done specifically to identify The Girl as a girl) makes people ask, "Is it a boy or a girl" or "He's very cute" or "What's his name?" Sure, I understand that she has very little hair, and most infants at this age do not necessarily look like either sex - therefore, the clothing and accessories are put in place to take away the guesswork.... But I can't understand, with the strong social mores against dressing up boys like girls (God forbid you do that - you might turn your boy "gay"), that one would say something about "your cute baby boy" when that "boy" is all gussied up in pink!

I took The Girl to the doctor today (she's got an ear infection), and the doctor (not her normal doctor, but a resident from Childrens' Hospital) says, "So, what's his problem today?" Mind you, she's dressed in the very outfit pictured above, and covered in her carseat with a pink blanket covered with pink, purple, and mint-green kitties, and pink hearts all over. Sigh....

What's worse is that I am really not a big fan of pink - I'd prefer to dress The Girl up in yellow or lavender, and even that mint green....but having to deal with the idiocy of the general public makes me want to parade her around in bright pink, with lace and frilly stuff all over her, just to stop the questions. But wait - they DON'T stop the questions....I think out of all the people that have commented on her, maybe 2 of them actually got it right that's she's a "she". But I'm still pissed off at those people because they went on to ask if she was "mine" (see previous blog on the virtues of 2% milk)....

So maybe I'll just dress her in whatever I think is cute (and fits) that day, and suffer through dumbass questions from people I'll probably never see again - or maybe try to come up with some smartass answer instead....somehow I think that would make me feel better.