Memories

Last week was Tim's 35th birthday, and as a surprise I bought tickets to the James Taylor-Carole King concert in Washington, DC. We both really enjoy their music, and Tim had recorded the concert from TV awhile back, so I knew he would like it. He had no idea where we were going, right up until we were sipping a beer at the bar next to the Verizon Center. I started pointing people out and asking him, based on their "look," what concert did he think we were there to see. It was funny to see the wheels turning in his mind, but after I pointed at a tall middle aged man who actually looked like James Taylor, Tim guessed correctly :) The concert blew us both away - Both Carole and James have SO much energy, especially for their age! They played all the hits, and the crowd was captivated by the performances. As I looked around at the crowd, I noticed that most people were significantly older than us, likely from our parents' generation, and probably grew up listening to the music of these two performers. The woman in front of me sang along, and swayed to the music, with a half smile on her face, deep in thought, and it looked as though she was remembering many good times had to these songs when the songs were originally released. I noticed several kids and teenagers there with their parents. I started to think about the music we listen to today, and if there are any artists that we have grown up with, made wonderful memories to, and will share with our children. The only ones that come to my mind are Billy Joel and Madonna. Billy doesn't really count, as he is also from the previous generation, and just gained popularity among my age group. Madonna - love her or leave her - has been around my entire childhood through adult years thus far. Will she be around in 20 years? I'm not sure. It did make me sad that I couldn't think of any other musicians that burst onto the scene in my youth, and will continue to make music for years to come that we can share and enjoy with our children. So, for now, we will just continue to borrow our parents music - No one said we can't pass that along instead....