Retro Rewind--Minus the Leg Warmers!

So, today I have gone totally retro! I loaded up my player with 80's classics, slipped into my Payless brand, fake-Vans and came to work, ready to ska, skank and pogo.

I know exactly why there are so many nostalgia radio stations hanging around. When you feel older than dirt, and life is dragging you down, you need to throw on some music that reminds you of being a kid. If hear "Alive and Kicking" I think of riding around in my friend Laura's Ford on a Friday night, about 6 of us piled in the car, cruising through the Burger King and then headed off to just hang out and watch MTV (back when it was good) or play games at somebody's house. Any song by Thompson Twins sends me zooming back to the post-football game dances we used to have every Friday night in the high school cafeteria. Or Saturday nights at the local teen club in our town, awkward and nervous when slow songs came on, but always ready to shake something when they played Prince or Janet Jackson. Life was scary, but at the same time, I had hope. That's the feeling I needed to recapture. It's not about going back to when we were young and beautiful, or when we were carefree. That's a lie, and you know it. No time in your life is perfect when you are living it. Heck, even in the womb, there must a been a few bad days when Mom ate a spicy meal and you had to pay for it.

Every age brings with it something to be uncertain about. But what we should be nostalgic for is that feeling of hope that went along with the nerves. That is what we should always hang onto.