80's Child All The Way

Ever since joining the iPod era last year I've been uploading my collection of a million plus Cd's a little bit at a time. It would be overwhelming to do it all at once as I've never gotten rid of a single CD. In fact, I still have all of my cassette tapes in a box downstairs somewhere but we won't get into that.

So every now and then I pull out the big Rubbermaid container that holds my CD collection out from under our bed. It takes up probably a third of the floor space under our king sized bed. I needed something to motivate me while I attempted to clean bathrooms with only one functional hand. (Pain is better, but we still have a long way to go there, by the way.)

So I'm skimming the titles of Cd's - cringing as I skim past artists such as Joey Lawrence, Dino (what teenage girl wasn't in love with him?), Belinda Carlisle and The Heights Soundtrack - when I come across my old Debbie Gibson and Tiffany Cd's (which I also own on cassette somewhere as well).

When I think of my childhood, particularly back when I was ten or eleven, the first thing that comes to mind are these last two Cd's. They were my prized possessions. I remember lining up heavy duty plastic milk crates and covering them with an old Ramada Inn carpet to create my own personal stage downstairs. Hairbrush Microphone? Check. Broomstick Stand? Check. I was ready to be a pop star! I spent hours down there - sometimes with friends, sometimes by myself. I'd have my cassette tapes lined up, all fast forwarded to the song I wanted so my "concert" would run smoothly.

Yes, I was a big dork! But that was me and I wouldn't trade those memories for anything. To this day, music is still a huge part of my life. It motivates me and can pull me out of a bad mood every singe time.

I needed the motivation yesterday. All week my wrist was in bad shape. The pain pills had me back in bed every afternoon last week. My daughter and husband both have had to help me wash my good arm in the shower. I've continued to help Bret's Grandma get up out of bed and dressed every morning while only using one hand and now I have a very much neglected house that needs cleaning and we are quickly running out of clean clothes. I guess you could say I really needed the motivation.

So I grabbed my Debbie Gibson and Tiffany Cd's and uploaded them into iTunes and onto my iPod. Twenty years later, I still know every lyric to every song on those Cd's. (My mother probably does, too with how often I played them twenty years ago.) The bathrooms got cleaned and the laundry got a good start.

All that remains to be cleaned is the kitchen and then there's tons more laundry. Hm, what should I upload to my iPod today? All I need now are my old white roller skates with the pink wheels and a roller rink!