Turn Around, Bright Eyes

I heard "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler the other day, and I had to laugh. Well, for one thing, it makes me think of the way it was 'covered' during the wedding scene in the movie "Old School". Hilarious! But it's funny to me, too, how I actually enjoy hearing that song just because it's so old and it takes me back to when it came out (1983). It got me thinking about how certain songs will stir up whole memories.... like this song: we went to spend a weekend, as we often did, at my Grandma's in Columbus. A lot of times our parents coordinated those weekends so that we'd be there at the same time as my cousin Bridget's family. I loved that, because Bridget and I really had a good time hanging out. (Can't say how much fun it was for my older brother or her younger sister, and my little brother and her littlest sister were just toddlers back then, so they wouldn't probably care as long as they were fed and entertained.) Anyway, "Total Eclipse" reminds me of one of those weekends, because Bridget was way into that song, and I hated it--I was into Michael Jackson and "Thriller" at the time. (I know, I know.) So all weekend long, she kept singing that song (or maybe even playing a cassette tape of it?), and it was driving me nuts. I just thought "turn around bright eyes" was especially creepy because of Bonnie Tyler's wacky eyes and how they looked kind of spooky in the video. Well, we ended up all getting stranded at Grandma's for an extra two days because of this horrendous blizzard! I know it probably drove all the grown-ups nuts, just because the house wasn't that big, and a weekend was usually enough time to spend together as it was. (Or maybe it was just the fact that the beer usually ran out by Sunday afternoon, and our folks couldn't go get any more!) But I was especially going crazy, hearing that song over and over and over again for an extra two days! It was fun, though, playing in the snow at Grandma's house and calling in to school from Columbus, telling them we weren't coming, etc. Quite the adventure.

Another, similar memory, also involves Columbus, strangely enough. I told Jim the other day, as we heard the tail end of "Stranglehold" by Ted Nugent on the radio, that the song reminds me of one trip we made to Columbus, for my family's bi-annual (is that the right word? every other year?) family reunion. After that reunion, we were going to continue on to Norfolk, where we'd spend the rest of the weekend at Jim's folks' house. The fun (I use that word lightly) thing was, Jim was DJ'ing at the time (weddings, mostly), and he'd agreed to do a wedding for some friends of his family. So, in order to do the dance, he had to bring all the stereo equipment, speakers, lights, crates of CD's, etc., in his little Mazda 323 all the way from Lincoln. The car was about as big as a bathtub, so that meant he had to pack the stuff in part of the way, then have me get into the front seat, then pack the rest of the stuff around me. I'd gone to a few dances of his in Lincoln that way, and it was just kind of funny. (I imagine it was even funnier for someone on the "outside" to see me climbing out of that car after he'd partially unpacked it.) But for the two hour ride from Lincoln to Columbus for this family reunion (the last weekend of July was when they always have it, and Jim's car either didn't have AC, or it didn't work very well), it was not particularly comfortable. We spent a few hours in Columbus, outside in the heat at that park by the river, then he packed me back into the car with the stereo equipment, etc., and we went the rest of the way to Norfolk. We heard "Stranglehold" on the way to Columbus--I think it was on a tape Jim had made, because I remember hearing it again on the way to Norfolk. I don't remember the trip back from Norfolk to Lincoln... I just remember the trip up there. It was not exactly pleasant, but considering all the stuff we have to pack nowadays for kids, it wasn't that bad. (Of course, I don't have a ton of equipment on my lap and poking me in the back and all around my legs, etc., but still... it still seemed quicker, to me, packing and unpacking all that stuff, versus packing stuff for our kids!)

That's all--no pix this time, just a goofy post. C'ya! -t