Sue

I received an email from my college son, Mark, with a quote from his American History professor, “You want to be open-minded, but not so open-minded that your brains fall out.”  After I picked myself up off the floor and stopped laughing, I began to reflect on the deeper meaning of this phrase.

1. Can considering every side of an issue actually damage your brain?
2. Can you be so protective of your brain that your mind remains totally closed?
3. If you argue with a closed-minded person, will your brains fall out?
4. Can you be so open-minded that you never come to a conviction about anything?

Cautionary statement:  Just because you have closed your mind, doesn't mean that your brains haven't already fallen out.

I have been walking every morning for the last several weeks and using the old iPod shuffle as my companion.  Some music listeners only listen to one genre, as in "I only listen to classic rock from the 1950's and 1960's", or "I only listen to opera", etc.  I have a very eclectic playlist, in fact it looks like a musical acid trip as it ranges from the 18th to the 21st centuries.  Many of them have some sentiment attached to them.  Like today when I was walking and admiring the scenery in my beautiful mountain home and into my ears came Billy Joel singing "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant".  I was instantly transported to Southern California and saw palm trees, the ocean, and my good friend, Jane.  This is because that song comes from "The Stranger" album and I remember us spending lots of time listening to that vinyl LP and memorizing every word.  So it should come as no surprise that I can still sing every song on that record.  Now I do not currently own that vinyl platter, but rather a digital version downloaded from iTunes about 3 years ago when my teen son asked me about some good albums from the 70's and 80's that he could purchase.  With a gleam in my eye, I directed him to my favorite teenage bands: The Eagles, Styx, Journey, Foreigner, Billy Joel, you get the idea.  So now we own all those same songs in a digital format that I used to own on vinyl and cassette once upon a time.  Fun!

But I digress.  "Scenes" came on my iPod and I thought of Jane.  All the really wild adventures I ever had in high school were in the company of my friend.  I would probably be safe in saying that all the really wild adventures of my whole life were with her.  She took seriously her self-imposed responsibility to save me from my sheltered upbringing and introduce me to the great outside world.  It's a good thing I survived in one piece. 

We still regularly correspond, but have not actually seen each other in person since our high school days.  Recently she sent me a darling picture of her family and as I looked at my computer, unbidden came the disloyal thought, "Jane is a real, grown-up mom and not a kid anymore."  Then I looked in a mirror and said, "Yeah, look who's talking!"  So that caused me to reflect that nobody wants to be a teenager forever.  But this morning it sure was fun to look back and smile at those two teen girls and think about all the fun we had.  And all it took was a simple tune to put me in another time and place.