I’ve been thinking about it for so long that my list has gotten absurd…so I picked the highlights and they’re on my blog. All I can say is, I hope my parents don’t get charged with post-fact child endangerment.

A sampling:

On the Road Again – Willie Nelson

My dad’s van. An experience in itself. A 1978 Ford Econoline with the back seat removed…leaving the front two (captain’s!) chairs, one bench…and lots of empty, open space for children of the pre-seatbelt-law era. Great times for my brother and I playing board games in the back, smashing matchbox cars with random tools lying about…and then the older stories of the PLAYPEN being set up back there. Glorious!

Daddy’s van had an 8-track deck, so he owned this converter thing that let us play tapes, but you could only fast forward, not rewind. When I was around the 3rd grade, I started bringing my (battery-operated) boom box to sit on the huge center console to play tapes. Until my own tape-owning days, this van ran exclusively on The Highwaymen…you know, Willie, Waylon & the boys.

1.) I Saw the Sign by Ace of Base…….if I remember correctly, I think that we made up a dance to this at Shirece Burrell’s birthday party in 5th or 6th grade. “Can we puhhhllleeassseee go by a new tape” was the first thing out of my mouth when my dad picked me up from said party. We went to Wal-mart on the way home and I was the proud owner of an Ace of Base cassette tape. Awesome.

2.) Another one that sticks out is Who I Am by Jessica Andrews. I listened to it non-stop for at least 90-days.

3.) Miami My Amy by Keith Whitley reminds me of my freshman year at Tech with Lacey. I played it almost every morning and we sang along while getting ready. We still call each other every time we here it and leave a message of it playing if we can’t get each other.

4.) Back Where I Come From by Kenny Chesney really reminds me of home and could make me cry on any given day. Lame, huh?

5.) Black Balloon by Goo Goo Dolls. This one just makes me laugh. I remember Dallas Dixon playing it frequently in the short few weeks we dated back in ’82.

Fun post!

1. In 5th grade all of the cute boys in our class sang “On Bended Knee” by Boys to Men during music period. I wish I had a picture of that. I swooned.

2. Lots and lots of country songs make me think of elementary school.

3. That I’m a bitch song….that will always remind me of 7th grade and then also when Jen Yirak told me I was singing in wrong. “I’m a chee.”

4. Some good old U2. With or without you will always represent high school romances to me. So sad. And it is such a good song.

5. My first christian CD I bought on the way home from church camp in Louisiana. It was some kind of mix cd.

6. Oh and I second Deana Carter in junior high. Strawberry Wine, it was so scandalous.

1. In 4th grade, Maureen Weydert and I used to try to be the first ones on the swings at recess. We would hog the swings for the entire, what maybe 20 minutes?, and sing Garth Brooks’ I’ve Got Friends in Low Places. This is also when we would plan on who would ask their parents if the other could spend the night that Friday. That, and Mrs. Weiland, are about the only things I remember about 4th grade.

2. TLC’s Waterfalls (sorry, had to ditto you, Erin) and Boyz II Men’s I’ll Make Love to You (sad…such an inappropriate song for a blossoming 7th grader who had no clue was “making love” meant [blush]) are interwoven into every memory of every junior high dance I ever attended. Oh, those and The Dance by Garth Brooks. What was it with childhood me and Garth??

3. Ironic by Alanis. During almost every evening in late junior high and early high school, I would wait anxiously by my stereo, which of course was always tuned to Z93, for this song to come on. With bedroom door closed, I would belt out the words, believing that my parents really didn’t hear it when she said the “bad word”.

After my sophomore year, Jesus changed my life and I went to an all-Christian repertoire. But that post is for another day…

2. Anything dc Talk would work, but specifically, of course, Jesus Freak. To this day, dc Talk is my favorite band of all time. The Newsboys are a close runner up with Reality.

3. Shania Twain has to be on the list. Probably most accurately That Don’t Impress Me Much. Shania filled every one of our trips from Borger/Canyon to Lubbock and back. And yes, my mom was driving.

2. Whitney houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody, The Bangles’ Manic Monday and The Pointer Sisters’ Jump (For My Love) immediately put me on my trampoline I’m our backyard with a boombox on the ground and jumprope for my microphone. I was probably weaing a Bathing suit…because that’s how I roll(ed).

3. Any Huey Lewis song from Fore!, Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet and Beastie Boys’ Fight for Your Right will have me sitting in my brother’s room listening to his cassettes and messing up how room while he was at school. It’s Hip to be Square.