Well it happened. I was flipping through radio stations the other day trying to avoid car and furniture super blow out sale advertisements and happened upon a station playing a lot of pretty good music.

Music that, much to the dismay of my kids, I knew all the words to. Music that made me feel like I had a mullet again. Music that made me think about the 12,000 pound 1970 Pontiac Bonneville I used to drive that seated 15 comfortably. Music that lifted my spirits and brightened my day.

Then it happened. From out of nowhere the DJ’s voice cut through the last few notes of the song and uttered the words that hit me like a sack of cassette tapes. “Your listening to all ‘oldies’ all the time, none of that ‘new’ ‘modern’ ‘not old’ music that ‘young’ people listen to, just ‘old’ stuff all the time.”

My eye’s got misty, my lip quivered as I yelled at the DJ, “Those are not oldies, those are songs that came out when I was a kid. It’s only been 20 years….” My voice trailed off “20 years?” Can’t be. Let’s see it’s 2005 minus 1985, carry the two.. 20 years! This wasn’t supposed to happen.

My kids patted my on the back, told me it was okay, all of their friends parents are old too. I dried my eyes, and for the sake of my children, decided against jerking the wheel into on coming traffic.

I’m thinking of introducing legislation that enforces the phrase ‘Your Generations Music’ rather than ‘Oldies.’ With the swiftness of our political system ‘My Generations Music’ will be considered ‘Classical" by the time it’s approved. I like the word classical. I won’t mind so much if my kids ship me off to the ‘classical’ home where I can listen to ‘My Generations Music’ real loud. Not because I want to because I have to.

I was doing some Christmas shopping the other day and overheard some teenage girls having a scholarly discussion on how much they loved 80’s music. You know why they love it so much? Because they don’t ‘have’ to listen to it, they have options. They have a two decade buffer at their disposal. Enough about my ill-feelings towards being closer to 40 than 20.

I have been looking forward to this week for a long time because, I’ll be home for Christmas, huh, sounds familiar. I haven’t been to Lignite since September, which is probably the longest I’ve ever been away from the friendly confines of the northland. It will be nice to settle in for a week or so and visit with friends and family.

Christmas at the farm of course is of highest priority for the venture north. The farm, being Grandpa Ardell and Grandma Rose’s house, where Christmas has been for as long as I can remember. Much of my childhood was spent at the farm so it holds more memories for me than just about any place. Good memories of good people laughing and enjoying one another’s company. ‘Classical’ memories.

Have a Merry Christmas. Chat with you next year.