I used to be hip. At least a little, I think. I knew all about new artists, when the new albums were due out, where the best live music was to be found each month, who the best artists you never heard of but needed to were… But that was then, this is now.
Two whole weeks was all it took. That’s what happens when you have a newborn. All the hip you thought you had vanishes in an instant. Instead of telling you how good, bad or ugly the new Pearl Jam album is, all I can tell you is which of the seven lullabies on my new baby girl’s Lil’ Lamb swing I like the best (that’d be “Hush Little Baby” if you’re scoring at home). I can tell you which stuffed animal soothes my daughter the best when she’s fussy (that’d be the pink hippo that plays “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”). I couldn’t tell you a single thing that’s happened in the world of music the past two weeks. And you know what?
I think that’s absolutely perfect.
I wouldn’t trade all the hip in the world for what I have right now. Sure, I’ll get back on the wagon here soon — once I can remember what sleep is like and can put thoughts together. But for right now, this is as perfect as I could ever imagine. And who would have ever thought that perfection could come in such a little bitty package. But yet it does, and she is. There isn’t a single thing I’d change about her.
And I know that as she gets older, I can begin to educate her on the important things in life. No, not math or any of that. Things like – What it used to be like to have to buy a whole album to get your favorite song. How Brittney Spears, Lady Ga Ga and Miley Cyrus destroyed pop music as we know it. How Michael Jackson used to be normal before the ’90s came around. How people used to play real instruments, not just the ones on Rock Band and Guitar Hero. And how Justin Timberlake used to be in a boy band before he became president.
But that’s all in due time. Right now, I’ll just enjoy the perfect moments I have each day. And I’ll know that even though I’m not perfect, she just might be.
At least until she wants to go see Hannah Montana and the Jonas Bros. in concert. Then all bets are off and she can go talk to her Mamma.
This article appears in Oct 6-13, 2009.
“‘At least until she wants to go see Hannah Montana and the Jonas Bros. in concert. Then all bets are off and she can go talk to her Mamma.”…
You say that now. :-)..but trust me, there’s nothing like being with her when she finally gets to see one of her idols live. And she wouldn’t want to share it with anyone else as much as with her parents. It’s a memory you all will treasure your whole lives. You don’t want to miss that.
signed..
been there, done that, (Backstreet Boys & MB20) and wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
yeah, yeah… I can hear it now… “in my day, we used to walk 50 miles up hill both ways, in the rain, with no shoes to see Pearl Jam”. And the reply from little miss Jason…”who the heck is Pearl Jam?”, as she looks at her friends and thinks “my dad is soooo lame!!!” Good luck getting back on that wagon!!!
More like you’ll tell her: “I’m so old, I remember when Miley Cyrus used to sing Pop for Disney, instead of Rock, like she does now.”