Old Songs Have Great Memories

There is nothing like it when I hear an old song comes on the radio. Some bring back the best memories. Some I'd like to forget altogether.

When I was 10 my aunts tried to teach me to dance. They are 1 and 3 years older than me. It was a failure of epic proportions.

I still laugh when I hear Gary Puckett and the Union Gap and Herb Alpert. We would bounce across the kitchen.. they were so good.. I would bump into the counters and knock stuff over. They would roll their eyes, shake their heads and bounce away. Fine I'll bounce all by myself!

My sister and I were sent to Idaho for a summer of "farm living" with our grandparents. It was a long, hot, summer. I spent my time riding the horses, milking cows, sitting on haystacks, more milking cows, more haystack sitting.

Then my 12th birthday box arrived from my parents. It contained a new (and my first) bikini. a volleyball, a 45 record "Humphrey the Camel" (my dad thought it was a hoot) and a transistor radio! Then my grandparents gave me their gift. A transistor radio! Wow!! A spare!! They got one channel way out there on that farm, in the middle of no where. The sound was fuzzy and I had that radio stuck to my ear everywhere we went.

I fell in love with The Carpenters! It was 1970 and most of the music was so simple. Lyrics were clean and I was in heaven.

Then there was the Jackson 5, The Partridge Family, Bobby Sherman, The Animals, The Beatles, wow, the list was endless.

I would go to sleep at night listening to Casey Kasem's "Americas Top 40" with the radio under my pillow so my parents wouldn't hear.

Once home I discovered we had moved out of our tiny apartment. My parents had bought our first (and they still live there) home. There was a huge road around the lake across the street with two neighborhood stores with lots of candy and soda. There was a cemetery down the road with no traffic.

I found 2 friends with bikes, we had "stingrays" with banana seats! We would tie our radios to our handlebars and head to the store, load up on sour straws and ride for hours and hours. The big cemetery was the best because it was quiet, had no traffic, and we would eat our lunches and roam for hours.

In the city I grew up in we had three stations, one was "oldies". I would run up to my father just rolling over the stupidly goofy lyrics of the 50's songs. He would look at me and roll his eyes. " 'Oldies' you've got to be kidding! What's so funny about a 'white sport coat and a pink carnation' "?

I got a chance to wear the bikini on an outing with my church youth group. Four of us went down a 30 foot slide, linked together, face down... I came up, with a head full of water and the bikini top around my waist. Horror! Oh well... I still had my transistor.. "House of the Rising Sun" was my favorite then! But I digress...

There is nothing like the freedom a bike gives a kid. Our first set of "wheels." It's nothing short of magic.

Later on music became the memories connected with boyfriends that came and went, frustrations of being young, of wanting to grow up and be free.

I lost that 'girl' for several years. I got crazy and life got scary. Bad relationship choices. Drugs, alcohol, chaos. I was lost for several years.

Six years ago I bought 2 bikes. Now there is traffic. The traffic has no patience for bicyclists. I have a road bike with 27 speeds now.

The roads around my area have no shoulders and it can be brutal fo get out and ride. I found a friend (Wendi) to ride with and we'd pack up the bikes and ride for hours and laugh and sing. Sometimes we would mountain bike in the wooded forest near us. It was 45 miles of no traffic and lots of laughter.

She helped me find that little girl again. A best friend can do that for you. We did the "Seattle To Portland" ride one year. We got half way.. 104 miles of pain and joy.

I find myself longing for the "old days." I found an online station where I have found all those old songs. I get on my 27-speed bike, ride to the store for Vitamin Water and listen to my IPOD... and remember the 12 year old girl with the transistor radio, long braids, crooked teeth and glasses, that lived for the freedom, the peace, the adventures.

I was playing these old songs the other night when my 19 year old son came home with his friends. They laughed!!!!! "Mom, those lyrics are so goofy, the music is awful!" I just rolled my eyes. Their headphones were stuck in their ears. I have come full-circle. Why do people roll their eyes at me so much? You're doing it too, aren't you! Yes, I thought so!

I am grown up now and free and she is with me again. She will always be with me.

And I smile.