This one is for Aimee

...because only she will understand what I'm talking about.

Chris and I bought each other ipods for our anniversary last June. I mostly wanted an ipod because my car doesn't have a CD player and I am so, so sick of the Elmo's Greatest Hits tape that Mallory requests every time we're in the car. I figured I'd put a bunch of children's songs on the ipod and thus have a wider variety of Mallory-acceptable music while driving.

So yeah, how uncool is it that the first songs I put on my ipod were from Sesame Street, Laurie Berkner, and Disney CDs? I'd say decidedly uncool.

But it gets even lamer, because once I got all those songs on there, I then couldn't decide what songs of my own to upload. I really haven't bought any new music for myself in years. I went through my CD collection and it was all Crowded House and Mary Chapin Carpenter and They Might Be Giants -- and I love all that stuff, don't get me wrong, but there was nothing new there. But then I went browsing through the itunes music store and I didn't even recognize any of the "new" stuff that's out there.

So what's on my playlist, yo? Uh, Crowded House and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Oh, and soundtracks from Les Mis and Miss Saigon and Chess. Yeah, I radiate uncool.

In addition to my uncoolness, I'm also powerfully indecisive, so when I get in the car and plug in the ipod (and when the kids aren't with me), I usually can't decide exactly what I want to listen to. Plus I always feel slightly guilty when choosing a song from Les Mis over a Crowded House song. (I know that's weird. When I was little I had this odd rotational system which determined which doll I slept with every night. That way none of the dolls got their feelings hurt. This is really embarrassing.) So I circumvent the pain of choosing by putting the ipod on "Shuffle." This works out pretty well and at times it's even comical -- as when the dramatic finale to "Miss Saigon" is followed immediately by "Happy Tappin' with Elmo."

Anyway, the point is, today the song "Sean" by The Proclaimers came up. Listening to The Proclaimers always reminds me of two things: My freshman year in college, when I was introduced to their music by two really goofy guys named Brian and Danny (who also introduced me to peach schnapps); and the summer after my junior year in college, when I lived at home. Aimee and Casey and I spent a lot of time together, which was fun, and we listened to The Proclaimers a lot and we were, for a time, curious about the beginning line of "Sean," which says, "Sean I'd say the best one came from Tupelo, Mississippi." What did that mean, we wondered? (This was pre-Google, you understand.) Who came from Tupelo, Mississippi? What was he so good at?

Then one Sunday we were sitting around reading the Sunday paper and I happened to catch out of the corner of my eye a line in "Parade" magazine (what, you thought I was actually reading the news?) that mentioned the birthplace of (of course everyone else knows this) Elvis Presley. Illumination! "Elvis was born in Tupelo!" I shouted, and Aimee and Casey also saw the light and it was good.

And that was a really dumb story but I remembered it this morning and it made me smile.

Happy Birthday tomorrow, Aimee & Casey! In my opinion, some of the best ones come from Muleshoe, Texas.