Longing for today...

I was cruising today while jamming to Jessie's Girl, and I noted that while simple drum beats are one of my favorite things in the world, the best beat is the one that holds a note or two.  It's the anticipation of the drop beat that gets me charged up.  It reminded me of all the things in my life I am waiting for the drop beat on.  When I will be able to quit my second job.  When we will have more money.  When I will have kids.  When we will move to the country.  When I will get published.  Continually waiting for the drop on these aspects of my life feels a bit less exciting.

When I was in Pompano last weekend, I felt at home in a way though I'd never been to those parts before, because everywhere I looked I saw 1950s architecture and signage.  It was great.  The wonderful thing about it is that each building was its own piece of art back then.  I love the colors and the designs.  Driving down the road felt as though I were walking through a museum admiring the paintings along each side of me.  I also fell in love with the radio stations there as there was one that was having an 80s flashback weekend and played songs I hadn't heard since I was 8.  Ones I had totally forgotten about.  I started to wish that things were the same as back then, that time when architecture was about art not lavishness, when music was about the feeling, not sex.

It suddenly hit me that people in the 80s must've wished it was still like the 50s, and people in the 50s probably wished it was still like the 30s.   And, it is a likely possibility that people in the 2030s will look back with fondness on the 2010s.  They will long for the purity of Lady Gaga and strip malls.  That sentence was painful to type.  But, it's true.

There's this country song by Trace Atkins that I heard randomly one day a few years back and it struck me immediately and broke me apart until I was crying as I rode down Atlantic wondering why.

Before she knows it she's a brand new bride
In a one-bedroom apartment, and her daddy stops by
He tells her it's a nice place
She says it'll do for now
Starts talking about babies and buying a house
Daddy shakes his head and says, Baby, just slow down

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast

Five years later there's a plumber workin' on the water heater
Dog's barkin', phone's ringin'
One kid's cryin', one kid's screamin'
She keeps apologizin'
He says, They don't bother me.
I've got 2 babies of my own.
One's 36, one's 23.
It's hard to believe, but ...

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

What am I losing by longing for the past?  Soon I'll be longing for today.  May as well be now.

50s architecture.  See what I mean?  It just gives me chills.