Today I had one of those A-Ha moments, well it was actually more like a Ah-shit moment, in Bath and Body Works. I was there for my monthly Wallflower splurge , if you have to ask what these are we can no longer be friends. I got up to the register with my 4 Wallflowers, free mini candle and new autumnal Wallflower plug in (it light s up!) and I heard the two cashiers talking. Now, these girls were probably 19 years old , very cute , perky, candle loving looking young ladies. I could've liked them until... they said to each other "I have never heard of this song" to which the other candle pusher replied "me either, it's horrible." The song was a Paul Simon classic titled "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard" . I had been singing it just seconds before as I placed my purchases on the counter. Clearly, my face changed when I heard the girls saying they never heard of it ,because my daughter looked at me in horror. She KNEW what was coming. I had to say SOMETHING.
Let me preface this by saying that I am guilty of playing music to my children from decades ago. They are used to it and now they just bring their headphones in the car if they don't want to hear "my" music. But before the headphones and iPods they were schooled on what is classic and what is, well, crap. This has resulted in three children that can belt out any Billy Joel, Beatles , Eagles , Jim Croce and yes, Paul Simon song. They may not like it but they recognize it. These two salesgirls clearly did not have mothers who loved them. Or they did not have mothers who could hear, maybe they were children of deaf mothers? That's all I could fathom from the fact that neither of them had ever heard of the song. But surely they knew who the artist was, right? WRONG. When I butted into the teeny boppers conversation at the register(much to my daughter's embarrassment) I said "It's Paul Simon, you know the better half of Simon and Garfunkel?" Their reply was, excuse the pun, the sound of silence. Blank stares and then finally they both said "oh" . And back they went to ringing up my Caramel Pumpkin Spice wallflower. I continued humming about Julio and the schoolyard as I walked out with my overpriced, over fragranced purchases but I could not help but wonder...when did I become the old lady who shakes her head in disbelief at teenaged cashiers whose knowledge of music clearly doesn't expand past Lil Wayne. I'm fairly certain that in 43 years , while they are shopping in Bath and Body Works , Little Wayne songs won't be on in the background for their shopping pleasure. My children disagree with this. They say these songs now are the classics of tomorrow. Really??? Well in that case I'm glad I'll be dead, or at the very least deaf.
So my Ah shit moment came when I realized that I'm getting seriously old. I mean in the last two weeks we've lost Robin Williams and Joan Rivers , both of who were a giant part of entertainment throughout my life. Then it was the 17th anniversary of Princess Diana's death a few weeks ago, and my son and his girlfriend found me watching footage of her funeral on my laptop. When they both said "who is that?" I thought they were kidding, and after a few minutes of asking them questions, I realized they were not . That was such a huge part of history that I couldn't believe that a 17 and 18 year old did not know about it. I watched that funeral while rocking my 2 week old colicky son all night , crying both from lack of sleep and from the loss of a woman much too young to leave us. But these are my memories, not the youth of today. I can't expect them to hold these things as dear as I do. The reason I know every word to Paul Simon songs(among others) is they were in the background of my childhood. They left an imprint that stayed with me. I just hope the things leaving their mark on my children are as long lasting and worth while, but if not I have definitely snuck my fair share of "oldies" music in their heads so that maybe they'll be caught humming about Julio someday too.
