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When I was born, Gerald Ford was president. John Denver, James Taylor, Barry Manilow, and the Bee Gees were standards on the radio. A gallon of gas cost $.44. [Feel free to pick your jaw up off of the floor now. I can wait.] The Vietnam War officially ended. Jaws was the most popular film of the year. The VHS tape (now obsolete) was introduced and Bill Gates created Microsoft.
Me. Today. On my 36th Birthday
Turning thirty-six insists that I’ve officially moved into the “next age bracket”. This means that when I fill out forms, I’m no longer grouped in with the 20-somethings (see Wiki: US Census - Middle Age). I’m starting to be called Ma’am instead of Miss. The gray hairs which I’ve been sporting for the last 10 years are starting to accumulate (which, to be frank, I actually like, and am doing nothing about, so take that, Time). The “oldies” station on the radio plays 80’s music now. But I’m not complaining; I loved eighties music.
This year was awesome. I started running. Back on April 12th, I got up off my bum, and got on the treadmill. (I only lasted about ¼ mile). I got up the next day and did it again (& the next day...). Next week, (almost exactly 6 months after starting running), I will be running a 10k event! I’m feeling healthier than I have in a long time. I’m reading much more often again. I travelled a lot this year with my family. I’m writing on my blog with greater frequency (and I think people might actually be reading it? Anyone? Anyone? Beuller…). Adam and I have gone to see real movies in the theatre recently. AND? I started back roller skating! So my 36th year was a darned good one.
But, here’s the thing. I’ve noticed that my hollywood contemporaries are aging, and… I don’t recognize the new ones. The 20-somethings of the world look so young to me. The teenagers I see in are babies. Heck, my own children will BOTH be teenagers in less than 6 years. What…WHAT?! Jane’s Addiction is about to release a new album and I remember when their first one came out. My friend from college said about the new album, “I may have to get that for my Geriatric Lollapalooza mix”. Which… Exactly. (Sigh.) See, Kurt Cobain has been nearly 20 years gone, but when I listen to Nevermind, it sounds fresh to me! Time is passing, things are aging, but I’m still feeling young, and my memories of youth are still bright.
I don’t have a problem with aging, really (really, really). Age really is just a number, blah-di-blah. But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit the passing of time weirds me out just a little. My kids (no longer babies) have never not known a cell phone (my youngest hasn’t ever not known a smart phone), and have no idea what it’s like to carry change around for a payphone. What’s a payphone, Mom? We sold the last of our VHS tapes at a garage sale this year, and we converted our CD collection to digital six years ago. My mother’s generation? They went to the moon. My generation? They’ve discontinued NASA and downgraded Pluto from planet status. Time passes, things change, time continues on, etc., etc....
I’ve got a lot of time left. (89 years, actually, since I plan on seeing the next century.) So I guess I’d better get used the fact that my kids are currently better on computers than I was in high school. It’s just the way it is. I embrace the passing of time as each moment shows me something new. So, hello middle age (ha!)… what can you show me?
Wordless Wednesday: Liberty
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We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls. ~Robert J. McCracken
For Mother's Day, we took a daytrip to Liberty State Park in New Jersey. From there, we hopped the ferry to Ellis Island, and then on to the Statue of Liberty. It had been years and years since I saw the statue up close - some long-since-filed memory from a forgettable middle school trip, I'm sure. This time, combined with the wonder of Ellis Island and the exuberance of my children it was much more meaningful and exciting. Our 6 year old really got into the trip - as she was able to read all the signs and descriptions in the museum on Ellis Island. Our nearly 4 year old wasn't nearly as jazzed about the museum as he was about the ferry rides and climbing all the stairs inside the statue. There are a few things available to younger guests - phones to pick up & listen to people talk about their experiences arriving on Ellis Island, and a gift shop with wooden whirly birds for sale, as an example. But on the whole, I'd say being reading age makes this trip much more interesting for children. We also got to see, relatively close, the new Freedom Tower under construction. While the skyline looked a bit strange, as it always does, without the World Trade Center towers standing, seeing new construction was inspiring. In all, we had a fabulous time. It was amazing to me to see all the old photographs and artifacts, and with taking a ferry to & fro, I really could imagine what it would have been like arriving in America for the very first time. Amazing. For a history of Ellis Island & the mass immigration that took place there from 1892 - 1924, visit the EllisIsland.org Some photos from our trip:
Sign on the way to the ferries.
My son's favorite part of the trip.
Lady liberty from afar.
Walking around Ellis Island - checking out some of the names inscribed on the "Immigrant Wall of Honor".
Luggage (amazing).
Babywearing - nearly 100 years ago! :)
The restored great hall where immigrants were first greeted & divided into groups for health, intelligence, legal processing, and other screenings. Here's a "then & now" photo gallery.
Looking out over Ellis Island - the statue is off in the background.
A list of the food available for purchase by immigrants. CANDY! :)
A wall of postcards illustrating the various ships that brought passengers to the USA.
Walking outside the main building, on the way to the ferry.
The Manhattan skyline from the ferry. Missing the World Trade Towers.
The statue from the ferry... getting closer!
Preservation of the old torch.
Odd art from the museum.
Yes, there are elevators, but we walked!
La Liberté éclairant le monde
Family pic! (6 year old is making faces & 3 year old is bored)
Music for Kids...AND Their Parents
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Have you ever been driving along in the car, or cleaning up around the house with the kids, with the music on, when you suddenly, unbelievingly, you realize you’ve been singing along (for the 50 bazillionth time) to Raffi’s Baby Beluga? Which, you really don’t much like? At all. Has it really come to THIS, you wonder, stink-eyeing the Wiggles CD? What happened to the GOOD music?
I’m here to say you don’t have to endure Row, Row, Row Your Boat any longer. Just because you're a parent doesn't mean you have to give up the good stuff. Really. It’s okay. In fact, I think it’s preferable! Kids need exposure to real music, with harmonies, layered instruments, and complex beats. And adults need… well… let’s put it this way: there’s only so much, “Mister Sun, Sun, Mister Golden Sun…” that you can sing without losing a little bit of your mind. And we need to maintain ALL of our minds in order to be the best parents we can be, right?
Right. So, here’s to holding on to sanity, while improving everyone’s musical experience:
KellyNaturally’s Kids AND Adults Mix:
1) They Might Be Giants: Women and Men
2) John Denver: Grandma’s Feather Bed
3) Straight No Chaser: The 12 Days of Christmas
4) Squirrel Nut Zippers: Put a Lid On It
5) Wally Pleasant: If I Were (note: this song DOES use the words prophylactic & crappy… but its so worth it, seriously)
6) Peter, Paul, & Mary: If I Had a Hammer
7) Barenaked Ladies: If I Had a Million Dollars
8) Simon & Garfunkel: 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)
9) Owl City: Fireflies
10) Cyndi Lauper: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
11) The Beatles: When I’m 64
12) Bjork: It’s oh so Quiet
13) R.E.M.: Shiny Happy People
14) The B-52s: Rock Lobster
15) The Chordettes: Lollipop
16) Bob Marley: Three Little Birds
17) James Taylor: Jellyman Kelly
18) The Cure: Friday I’m in Love
19) Peter Gabriel: Big Time
20) Paul Simon: Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
(dancing to the good stuff!)
Now, if you’re not in the mood for putting together the above mix, here’s a few already complete album cheats:
- The For The Kids compilations are awesome (there are three) featuring people like Jason Mraz, Lisa Loeb, Moby, Guster, etc. singing kid-themed songs that are quite bearable for adults.
- Broadway Musicals: There are lots of fabulous musical soundtracks with kid-and-adult friendly songs like Les Miserables, The Sound of Music, A Chorus Line, Phantom of the Opera, The Wiz, etc.
- They Might Be Giants: They have several “kids” albums which are awesome (Here Come the 123s is my favorite) and many of their “pre-kid-album” songs have innocent-ear-friendly words, like: Women and Men, Why Does the Sun Shine?, Am I Awake?, Dinner Bell, Birdhouse in Your Soul
- Barenaked Ladies has a kid’s album which is very adult-listenable, called, Snacktime!
- Dave Matthews Band: While there are some mature-themed songs, the majority of his lyrics aren’t offensive, and they’re all catchy. Plus, each contains LOTS of instruments to pick out for the kids. Besides, DMB just has to rock the mini van now & then.
What do you all like to listen to with your kids? Do you smile your way through Laurie Berkner or do you make your kids to listen to the stuff you grew up with, like me?
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I remember where I was 9 years ago. It was our one month wedding anniversary. I was driving into work, down Rt. 95, listening to NPR, Suddenly, classical music came to a halt, and they cut in to explain that a plane had crashed into the world trade center. Wow, I thought, what a terrible accident. I was almost to the library. It was just a bit after a quarter of 9. I arrived at the library, walked through the front doors, to my desk. Everyone was working as normal. “Turn on the radio. There’s been a plane crash – it crashed into the World Trade Center.” I turned on my computer, pulled up CNN.com – I remember it was still working fine at that point. The office radio came on; our ears glued to the news reports, still indicating an accident; when suddenly – another plane hit the other tower. It was 9:03. We were listening as it happened. There was a transformation in the room at that moment… a sense of confusion descended, as a plane crash (accident) turned to a double plane crash (how can that happen?). Was there something going on with radar systems? Were there other planes crashing? I don’t remember thinking of the people IN the buildings yet – just the planes, and how they could have possibly both crashed into huge buildings. Thinking, almost exactly: what was going on?
I called my husband at work – told him to turn on the radio, quickly. I was continually refreshing CNN.com – looking, maybe(?) for some indication this whole thing was a hoax? But CNN, CBS, NPR, all the websites were showing the same horrible scenes; and talk was starting about purposeful crashing of planes. The morning passed simultaneously syrup slow and lightening fast. I remember telling every student that came to the library front desk to check the news report – did you hear about the planes? Then immediately returning to my desk to check the news once again. CNN.com was starting to slow down. I remember feeling frustrated – I just wanted to know what was going on – why can’t the internet MOVE. At 9:37am, a plane hit the Pentagon. Anxiety. I felt it. Suddenly what had once been wow, then confusion, became terror. Panic. What is happening, right here, in my country, right now, in the city where I'd so recently worked? I called my husband again. My cell phone didn’t connect.
I kept calling, as we all moved down to the library’s basement – to the AV room, where they had a television set up. All of the library staff was there, crowded into a small room, around a tiny television. I think there were students there too – what I remember most was being surrounded by people – all of us scared, confused, staring at the screen, which was showing constant footage of two towers billowing black smoke, interspersed with images of the chaos on the ground in front of the smoking Pentagon building. I remember saying, “I used to work right there.” (I had worked briefly in WTC 7 – American Express – across Vesey St. from Tower 1) We were all standing in a group, watching in horror, amazement, disbelief. The scene was unrecognizable, yet, so familiar. I used to take the E to the Chambers Street WTC stop to the underground mall. I would buy soup from Hale & Hearty. I used to have lunch in the shadow of the twin towers. I think I said some of this, or all of it. My coworkers looking at me, asking questions. Everyone confused, talking, trying to get phone calls to connect. I finally got through to Adam – who told me to stay put. Stay put. We watched in amazed horror at people falling from the buildings to their death. Firefighters helping people out of buildings. Listened to people talking about their experience being up in the building, hearing the crash, trying to get down smoke-filled hallways, crowded stairways, repeated (over and over) footage of the second impact. And then…the first of the two towers fell. The footage was spectacular. Unbelievable. Otherworldly. Like something out of a science fiction movie. People running, screaming down the street with smoke and debris in clouds behind them. Then the plane crashing in Pennsylvania. Then, the second tower falling. I felt like I was in the midst of a war. It was terrifying.
I don’t remember much detail of the rest of my day. I was going through the motions. Telling students what happened. Watching their faces go from wonder to horror at the library’s computers. Everyone on their cell phones – trying to contact family members. I was so frightened, so confused, anticipatory. What would happen next? I drove home in a daze, listening to NPR, turned on the television the moment I stepped in the door. And I’m not sure that we turned off the television that evening. I kept CNN.com on constantly. I cried. One short week after 9-11, the anthrax attacks started. I know for certain that I didn’t feel safe for a good long time.
I have yet to visit ground zero. I’ve driven by the end of Manhattan when the beams of light were shining up at night. Adam has visited. I’m just not sure I want to be there. I didn’t lose anyone in the attacks; just my ability to ever re-experience things there the way they were. I have memories in my mind of how it felt to be there, before the attacks… it still feels that way in some part of my mind. I don’t know when I’ll want to change that.
As for our children and the attacks on 9-11. We’ve said that bad people did a terrible thing, hurting a lot of people, on that day, and that we remember them on the same day, each year. I’m not sure that I’ll never be able to convey the real confusion of that day; the fear I – and everyone – felt. The fear that I think we all still live with – to a certain extent – in this country. A fear that my children were born into; are growing up in. I want to tell them the story as I experienced it – someday. I imagine it will feel the way my mother’s stories of the death of JFK felt to me – distant. But I do remember, and I’ll want them to know my memories. I want them to know the love I have for my country, and how scared I felt when I wasn’t sure it was going to be here anymore. I want to tell them how important peace is. And how an event like this reminds us not to take peace for granted. Someday we’ll share our memories. For now, I remember.
I wish peace to those families far less fortunate than I who lost loved ones in the attacks. Peace to eveyone in this country that I love. Peace to all people in all countries. Peace to the world – this one world we all share.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the infinite peace to you.
~Gaelic Blessing