boys like girls

Last night I went to say goodnight to Younger.  I found her sitting on the floor of her bedroom doing extra credit, rocking out to music blaring from her computer speakers.

Part of that scene was normal; part, not so much.  Want to guess which?

I'll tell you . . . she's an extra credit kind of gal.

Rockin' out? Not so much.

I failed in instilling the rebel music gene in this kid. But here she was listening to something that could be considered rock.  A brief bubble of pride arose in my heart.

So I asked, as nonchalantly as possible, "What's this?", nodding at the computer.

"A mixed CD." 

I felt my head nod and my face pull into a look that conveyed "good for you" and "I like it" and my brain issued a silent "OOOH-RAH " (that yell the Marines use).

But I am sure a crease marred my brow, as my eyes drifted to the floor where there was one open CD case and one closed.  Realization dawned as I took in the scene.

The cover of the closed case was covered in messy handwriting . . . script I recognized from a former life . . . BOY scrawl. The open case still held a shiny black disk.  That disk was covered with a silver Sharpie inscription:

From Boy

Enjoy!

He made her what my aging brain can only think of as "mixed tapes" . . . an equivocating modern love letter.  Affectionate but not requiring direct admission of affection. 

It all depends on how you listen to the lyrics, right?

Oh god.

And as I was processing this, a song came through those speakers.  A song that I became familiar with three years ago, when Eldest fell deeply into the throngs of her first teen love.

My generation had that little ditty about Jack and Diane, two American teens growing up in the heartland.  Two kids, in love, running away . . . rejecting what the adults hold out for them, yet wanting to be grown in their way.  For my chickadees it is this song, the one blaring through Younger's room, "The Great Escape" by Boys Like Girls. 



Why is there no hard liquor in the house when I need it?