Matchbox 20

On the way to work today, after I had dropped off Moodle and could turn off the nursery rhyme CD that plays on endless loop when I need to distract her, I heard a song I haven't heard in at least a decade.

There are lots of songs I haven't heard in at least a decade, but this song gave me a little tingly feeling. It was "Push" by Matchbox 20. It's a good song, but not really special in its own right. But that song came out the summer before I went to college. The first summer I spent in Pennsylvania, just after we moved. The summer before the biggest adventure of my life, college. The summer I spent a lot of time in my beat up Reliant, learning my way around in between shifts at the Lone Star. The summer I listened to a lot of radio.

I remember feeling a sense of anticipation that stuck with me the entire summer. I remember feeling a little lonely, because all my friends were in a different state. But it didn't bother me too much. After all, I reasoned, I would have left those friends behind to go to college anyway. Mostly, I just felt an electricity that had nothing to do with the tired old town we had moved to. An eagerness to go to school, prepared, focused, and as awesome as I could be.

And when I heard that song this morning, I got to feel that electricity again, this time flavored by what actually happened in college, which made it sweeter. And now I miss all the great friends I made in college, especially the ones I made while that song was still on the radio.

Long-Term Memories

As Moodle gets older, we're starting to see long-term memory kicking in. And we couldn't have seen it if we didn't relax occasionally, and do something fun, memorable, and out of the ordinary. I mean, sometimes she spontaneously waxes poetic about waffles, but we eat waffles for breakfast pretty regularly.

A few weeks ago, we bought a membership to a Children's Museum in our nearest big city. It's about 1 hour and 20 minutes away. The membership included unlimited free carousel rides. While we had fun in many exhibits, the carousel and the "fun, fast horsies!" made a big impression on my daughter.

On Sunday morning, Moodle sat down next to me on the couch, and started asking if we could have "fun". "Sure, sweetheart. What would you like to do?" "Fun, fast horsies! In a circle! Round round! Fun!"

I made no promises at that point, but why argue? She was recovering from her latest ear infection, being well-behaved, and we hadn't been out all weekend. Plus, Max Powers had been gone all last week for work, and then all weekend for an annual engagement in his hometown. When she finally took a good nap, I called him up. Since he was driving home through the city, we made plans to meet there. Not only would she get to see the horsies, she would get to see Daddy an hour earlier than she would have otherwise.

She got up from said good nap, and we quickly left to make the drive. She was well behaved until the last ten minutes ("Up! UUUUUUuuuuuuUUUUUuuuup!") We parked, recovered her shoes and socks (flung off as part of the self-amusement process), and headed straight for the carousel.

While she still hasn't worked up the courage to ride a horsie, she had a blast. We alternated carousel rides with the games and mazes that surround it. And when Daddy showed up, the first thing she did was drag him on the carousel. While they rocked a bench, I rode a horsie where she could see me, and snapped this pic.

She was right. Totally worth the return trip. And the membership meant I didn't stress over only being there for two hours. While we drove longer to get there and back than we actually spent in the museum, I'm sure it's not the drive she'll remember.