ON THE RADIO

ON THE RADIO

Oh, how I love the radio! I was raised in a home that was surrounded by music and I can't think of a time when the radio wasn't playing. In my house, you could always count on the radio to wake you up on Saturday mornings. My dad LOVED Saturday mornings because it always began with a glass of orange juice, letting the cat out, grabbing the Saturday paper, starting the sprinkler and listening to his "rock and roll" music on his "hi-fi" stereo. Sounds of the Eagles, The Doobie Brothers, Elton John and Wings would creep up stairs and gently wake me into consciousness. Can you think of a more wonderful way to wake up?

As I got older, I began to listen on my very own radio. I can see my little brown and white transistor radio, SO CLEARLY, resting on my bedside table. It was on MORNING, NOON AND NIGHT!! In those days, our station choice was Z-93 and it remained locked in that position for years. The only time we slid the dial to another station was at night. My sister and I figured out a way to tune the radio so you could hear broadcasts from other cities and if we were lucky, we were able to hear the creaking door of Mystery Theatre. My sister and I began a bond that would last for years in front of that radio. We relied on it for our music, but also for the all important weather reports. You better believe that my little radio was glued to my ear when there was a possibility for a snow day! "Cobb County Schools will be closed" Yippee!!!!

In 6th Grade, our school bus had a radio with speakers (our school bus driver, Charles, was so cool)! The movie Caddyshack had just come out and everyone at school was obsessed with the music and the dialogue. We had every line memorized!! One afternoon, on our usual route home, the title track ("I'm Alright" by Kenny Loggins) came on and the whole bus erupted into song. We were singing at the top of our lungs, dancing in our seats and acting like complete idiots. I remember feeling this strange kind of connection with each of my school mates.

In High School (see stylish "Pat Benatar" spiked hair-do above), you would be the "talk of the town" if you got your Perfect Album Side played on 96 ROCK. "This is Ashley from Marietta and this is MY Perfect Album Side". The DJ would ask you questions and then you would recite your songs that would be played for the next hour. All your friends would call you when they heard your songs and you would get nothing done at school the next day because of the constant congratulating. For a brief moment, you would rise from your weird girl status to rule the school....that is, until the next Perfect Album Side.

My senior year, it became un-cool with my crowd to listen to commercial radio, so I quickly tuned into ALBUM 88 to hear the latest alternative songs. I felt unbelievably "New Wave" listening to that music and even tried to dress like a punk rocker for a while (Definition of Punk Rock for a while: bleach stained pink blouse with bleach stained mini-skirt, black eyeliner, and red lipstick in my blond, all-American hair for exactly one night and then realized how ridiculous I look. What a poser!!!)

In college, I remember the freedom I felt for the very first time because I could actually drive in my car with out anyone wondering where I was going. Driving down Maple street, with the windows rolled down, hair blowing in the wind and the radio playing my favorite song. That tops my list of life's simple pleasures and is something that I have forgotten how to do. How quickly we forget how to be young and free?

Now my days are filled with Raffi tapes, THE WIGGLES CD and Sesame Street music. Who would have ever thought that the daughter of a music FANATIC would be reciting words VERBATIM, from my daughter's Barney Video? "If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops, oh what a rain that would be". I find myself singing those goofy songs OUT LOUD, usually in a public place like Old Navy and I forget that people can hear me. I can actually tell you all the names of ALL the members of THE WIGGLES, but I had no IDEA that Brangelina had their baby (why didn't you tell me???)

Although I would NOT trade being a mother FOR THE WORLD, I often think of my days with my radio and I am reminded of how much simpler life was when I was younger.....

I just want to go back to the days when you heard a new song that made you feel like you were going to burst with excitement and you CAN'T WAIT to learn the words. I want to be under the covers in my childhood bed and hear my mother say, "You can listen to the radio a little while longer, but then it's time for bed". I want to be with my Dad in his Datsun 280Z singing "Oh Black Water Keep On Rollin". I want to go back to college and fall in love again with my husband as we slow dance to "You Are So Beautiful" in front of his apartment. I want to be in my sister's car, driving down to Hilton Head, singing Ryan (not Bryan) Adams songs with her moon roof open and the stars shining above us. More than anything, I want my daughter, Charlotte, to feel the joy of the radio and to have all the great memories like I experienced. Maybe she'll be entranced by it's magic spell....or maybe she'll choose to be a rocket scientist. I guess I'll take either!