I find my seat and buckle myself in for takeoff to Texas. As I watch person after person board the plane, I am extra thankful for my aisle seat so I can stretch my six-foot-tall legs out a little bit. I look across the aisle and see this girl, probably about 15-years-old, take out her headphones. I think nothing of it but then my eyes grow wide as she pulls out a CD player to go with them. That's right! An actual portable device that plays compact discs...who even knew people still owned those? My heart smiled as I closed my eyes and leaned back for the flight.My mind wandered to my own CD player as a kid and the music that filled my childhood in every way possible.
1. Disney Hits.
If you know me at all, you know that to this day I love Disney and everything that comes with it. I own 99% of Disney movies still in the VHS form and yes I even still own a VHS player at the age of 26. As a kid, I used to have most of these movies in the "books on tape" form where I would follow along with every song as well. Let's just say that if there was every a Disney karaoke night, I wouldn't need the prompt.
2.Boy Bands and Girl Groups.
A few months ago, my best friend was coaching high school lacrosse and her players were discussing a current Justin Timberlake meme that read "It's gonna be May." To her dismay, and mine too once she shared, they were unaware of what this meant. Needless to say, they ran a lot that practice. Listen kids, we were all fans of him in his N'Sync days so don't mind if we push you a little too hard for his current concert tickets. Of course, there was a constant flow of all boy bands and girl groups on my CD player: Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, and who can forget DreamStreet before Jesse McCartney became famous? That's right. I've been there since the beginning.
3. Pop Stars.
Going right along with the singing groups were of course the soloists. I really felt old when this past week one of my basketball players was talking about the new movie in theaters, "47 Meters Down." It stars Mandy Moore and I asked her if it was the old Mandy--like the one who started out as a singer. She shook her head and said "I'd never heard or seen her before so I'm not sure." I'm pretty sure I became 25 years older in that exact moment. Turns out, it does star our girl Mandy! Too bad she's not accompanied by Britney, Jessica or Christina.
4. Theme Songs.
Another genre that I often had playing in my Disc-man was theme songs or soundtracks of popular TV shows.I can still hear dozens of shows', cartoons or not, theme songs and it immediately takes me back. From RugRats, DuckTales, and Doug to Full House, Friends, and Saved by the Bell... I watched them all. I can still rap the entire extended version of the Fresh Prince theme song and I will always think that kids should watch Magic School Bus in Science Class. These were the greatest...what are these kids watching today? In the words of a Southern woman...bless their hearts.
5. Choreographed Dances.
The last thing I think about when I think about the music of my childhood is all of the dances that we used to do at the Skating Rink birthday parties. The Macarena, YMCA, and Cotton-Eyed Joe are legen....wait for it....dary! I would put those dances up against the Whip and NaeNae any time, anywhere.
As the sun sets in my memory, I see the street lights come on so I know it's time to go home. I pedal my bike home, my Discman in the front basket and the Ace of Spades flapping in the tire spokes.I wash up for dinner which is served on, what else other than the Disney plates you used to collect from McDonald's. My CD player sits on the stairs, waiting for the next chance to be used again.
Waiting for the blonde little girl to choose which CD she will listen to first the next day.
Waiting for the countless memories to be made.
Waiting for the little girl to grow up, now listening to those same songs but this time only in her memory.
