Monday, August 27, 2012

Un-cool


For Christmas of 2005, I bought my 15 year old daughter, Grace, an electric guitar that she coveted.  I was happy to be able to get this for her, not just because she had been playing my vintage guitars, but to be able to get her something that I knew she would like.  She had taken classical guitar lessons, but her interest in this guitar signaled a major shift in musical style.

Though she loved the guitar, my musical preferences were un-cool.  I was a dinosaur, with my liking the Stones, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, etc.  It didn’t help that I liked some current stuff too, like R.E.M., Cake, and Wilco.

A few days after Christmas, Grace was in her room listening to Green Day.  I had heard their songs on the radio and thought they were catchy. So, I poked my head in and asked if I could listen.  She said, "Sure".  After a few minutes, I asked, “Why don’t you play these songs on your new guitar?” She looked a little puzzled and gave a smart ass response: “Because I don’t know how to play them.” I thought, “Here’s my chance.  Maybe I can show her some stuff.”

So, I grabbed the guitar and started picking out “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and then a couple of other songs. She said, “How did you do that?”  And I explained how she could listen to a song and pick out the notes and then play the chords that go with those notes.  She was skeptical, so I just kept playing. Eventually, she took the guitar from me and started to play.

I remember that day, since it was one of the few occasions where I had an opportunity to teach my teenage daughter something which was of interest to her. She never uttered a word to me, but I could tell by her expression that she thought that I was, sort of, cool, even if it was for only a couple of hours.   
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I wrote this for the Trifecta Writing Challenge Week 40 Writing Challenge, where are supposed to write a composition using the word “dinosaur” in the context of something which is large, out-of date or obsolete.

Your comments are appreciated.








49 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh, I love those moments. Few and far between, I know. Great job!

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    1. Thanks Jeanna. Yea, they don't happen very often. I was able to advise her about an apartment lease the other day!

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  2. We are waaaay cooler than they can even imagine. Love The Stones, Zeppelin, Fleetwod Mac AND Green Day (plus a few surprising others).

    Very sweet and touching! She's lucky!

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    1. Thank you Gina. I reared up a little when writing this. Are you a Wilco fan? Being from Chicago, I assume you'd be a big supporter.

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    2. Haha! I teared up. I'm not a horse!

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    3. Yes I am. "Either Way", "Whole Love", "You and I" are some favs. I watch Letterman, too, and have seen them there. Never live though. I gravitate towards anything from my hometown. We are lucky with music here.

      I knew you meant "teared" up and you may be a "dog" (lumdog) but not a horse.

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    4. I guess I'm a dinosaur as well -- I love all those classic groups. My daughter does expose me to current stuff and I enjoy it which amuses her no end. You slipped dinosaur in there well, I had to go back and look for it because it flowed so well.

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    5. Thanks Annette. Yeah, I've picked up some cool stuff from my lids too.

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  3. you're a good writer (-:

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  4. A lovely piece. Wonder how small things can bring in so much happiness. Very well expressed.

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    1. Thank you so much Ruby. I think the small things add up to something more important than the big stuff.

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  5. Ah, very nice. Love those small moments of connection. Well done. I really wish I'd learned to play guitar. Much more portable than a piano.

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    1. Thank you Kelly. Get a guitar and do it! It's not hard to learn some simple songs and you can progress at your own pace.

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  6. That's a major triumph with a teenager!

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    1. Thanks Annabelle. You are so right. I still feel good about it.

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  8. A eureka moment. It is wonderful when teenagers realise that sometimes the dinosaur factor is more than just that. Nicely captured.

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  9. Every now and then, the young whippersnappers will look at us and realize that we possibly might have once been cool. I love that look!

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    1. I think we still are! They just don't know it yet! Thanks.

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  10. This is so cool. For a moment you broke the teenage barrier. Mine aren't teens yet and I'm already a dinosaur to them :)

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    1. Thanks Janna. I'm not sure it gets worse like most people say. Grace was a handful, though!

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  11. My son is only 8 but starting on the guitar -- I used to play and wish I could pick it back up as you did! I also am a dinosaur of your same dinosaur generation:)

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    1. Sandra, thanks for stopping by. Not to take issue, but I don't think we are dinosaurs, it's just that the kids do. lol! You can pick up the guitar again, assuming you have time with an 8 year old! It may be just my computer, but I can't open your link on the Trifecta page.

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  12. What a wonderful moment between you and your daughter. Sometimes we can surprise the kids with random flashes of cool.

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    1. "Flashes of cool" is a good way to put it. They are seldom, I fear, although we do get cooler as our children mature. I think! ;/

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  13. I love it. I was the odd teen who never thought her parents uncool. I am not looking forward to when my children have a perfectly normal attitude about it.

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    1. Thank you JQ. It's not as bad as it seems. You have to adjust your behavior so as to not stand out too much when the kids are around, especially, when THEIR FRIENDS are around too.

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  14. I love that you had this moment. I'm quite sure none of my kids, except maybe my preschooler would put me and cool in the same sentence, lol.

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    1. Yes. To the young ones, we a very cool. I miss those days but wouldn't trade them for the relationships I have with them as young adults. Thanks for stopping by.

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  15. what a touching story... it reminds me of how when i was a teenager, i always used to feel my parents are so uncool and that they should definitely not be allowed to meet my friends as they say the most embarrassing things.... now when i think back, i realise how hard it must've been for them too...

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    1. Thank you for those comments. I guess it's all part of growing up.

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  16. tsh! i grew up listening to my parents music and adore that good ol' rock and roll, it ain't got the same soul as these modern bands!

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    1. Thanks Renada. I try to listen to all kinds of music but some of the kids' stuff is difficult.

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    2. i listen to a lil bit of everything as well, and some music today is excellent, but some of this 'music' is simply blatantly perverse lyrics paired with repetitive beats. and when a rapper uses paula abdul's 'straight up' to 'create' a song, you know there's a lack of creativity and definite desperation haha

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  17. yay for being cool...even if for a moment :)

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    1. Thanks Carrie. Yeah, even for a nano second. ;)

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  18. Very cool story, Lumdog, very cool indeed.

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    1. Thank you. I appreciate it. You a guitar player by any chance?

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  19. well written and touching

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  20. Touching story Lumdog! I was the cool mom. I allowed my son to listen to the current music and even bought it myself and listened to it. He, and the kids at the movie theater where I worked, were impressed when I could name the songs and knew the lyrics. I have a very eclectic music collection and likes. Great job with the prompt!

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    1. Thanks Tessa. I do like a lot of the current music, even some rap. I may have gone past my two of my kids since they don't like it much!

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  21. You are a truly good writer.

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  22. Nice! I love the story, and it was a great use of the prompt.

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  23. Just checking bac in to make sure that our comment from earlier posted. It looks like it hasn't. We struggle with your blog, for some reason. It rejects our Open ID, and then when we log out of our personal Google accounts and into the Trifecta account, it deletes our comment and closes out your page. So if you ever don't get a comment from us, it's because of this.

    What I was going to say is that it's exceedingly rare to be caught by a teenager in the act of being cool. Great job memorializing it. Thanks for linking up.

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    1. Thanks for your comments. I never had anybody say they had a problem with this. I'll try to check it out.

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