When Life Becomes A Classic . . . Us Against the Merry-Go-Round Assassin

Rebuzzed from the BuzzArcHives – December 2003 (approximately)

As kids we were outside early on Saturday morning. We only ventured back to watch Soul Train. But if the stereo was blasting, everybody in the house was up and going about the chores of the day. Grandma always said “company may come by.” When my aunt Chris cleaned, it meant moving everything around, and she was about to wax the wood floors. You couldn’t even go to the bathroom if the floors were wet.

In my grandparents house, I would do anything to get out of cleaning. I wouldn’t put enough “back” into it, so soon I was sent outside to play. At my mother’s house, as an only child, I never had to partake in the cleaning ritual. My mother’s favorite cleaning music was “Stairway to Heaven”. She was also a Johnny Mathis and Barry Manilow fan. My father collected music and was a DJ, so there was plenty of always music to enjoy. Although I was never allowed to touch the reel to reel.

Listening to a classic station took me right back to those days. My parents were hell bent on archiving every sector of my life on film, even parts I wish they had not. So while listening to the classics, I pulled out the “baby book” my mother started at my birth. Later I found myself driving to my fathers house to go through his half of the collection he had after their divorce. With every song that played, there were the memories in photos, page after page.

Read more