The Student Becomes The Teacher

Is it birthday time again?  This series started when I forgot to call my sister Leta on her birthday, prompting an apologetic post listing all of the lame excuses I could muster.  It actually turned out to be a pretty decent post, so I continued it with my brother Steve.  Momo Fali liked it so much she asked me to write one for her when she turns 23 in a few months (how’s that for a start, Momo?).  

We are now up to my sister Laura.  Laura is the 4th of 5 kids and the first college graduate in the family.  I’d like to think that all of us kids inherited Mom and Dad’s smart’s, but Laura was the first to have the grit and determination to see it all the way through.  She didn’t quit at a B.S., either, she went on and got her Masters in English.  Jealous?  Of course I am, but I’d never tell her tha….oops.  She has written a screenplay that she needs to shop around Hollywood and is getting ready to start on another.  She is a full time Mom to 2 children and a seasoned traveller who juggles…God, I’m starting to sound like the Biography channel; maybe I can get Peter Graves to do an audio post for me.  Let’s try this a different way.

As some of you may know, music is a common thread through my family.  Rumor has it that Johann Sebastian Bach is a distant relative, but in lieu of massive royalties, I remain skeptical.  My father had a decent album collection, sister Leta got me started on several diverse artists of the late 60’s and early 70’s; everything from Todd Rundgren to Gino Vanelli.  Steve always bought cassettes (8-tracks were on their way out) and I started with LP’s.  Laura had me over a barrel at one point because she had Destroyer by Kiss on album, and I didn’t.  She also had a K-tel record that had something on there that I wanted, I don’t remember, and the latest Carpenter’s album (did I type that out loud?).  Sure, I can admit it today; I am a Carpenter’s fan.  There, I said it.  Seems there are more of us than you think; check this out.  They used that album in the movie Juno.  Anyway, admitting it today will result in a little ribbing from Dr. Isaid No and a few others, but in the 5th grade, admission of owning a Carpenter’s LP could’ve had repercussions that would have reverberated well through High School and beyond.  I had to be coy.  I had to be secretive.  I had to get a tape recorder!  Back then, all we had was a record player and an 8-track player, no cassette deck, and that ensemble belonged to my brother.  Leta had a more advanced turntable, but no cassette or 8-track, and Laura and Stacey had one of these numbers:

Theirs was actually black, if memory serves.  I had to sneak my listening interludes of Destroyer (OK, The Carpenter’s too) on that player because I was never brave enough to actually sneak them back into my mine and my brother’s bedroom to listen to it on “The Quad”.  Laura and Stacey shared a bedroom in the front of the house, so it was easier to see them coming home from school.  I could shut down my clandestine listening post in seconds, saunter into the kitchen and no one would be the wiser.  Until now.  Sorry, Laura.  I think I finally traded her a lockable treasure box that I had made in shop class for that Kiss album.  2 weeks later she sold it to one of my friends for 5 bucks; a fortune back then.  Right in front of me.  I was upset because I had a plan to get that box back AND still retain possession of the Destroyer LP.  Alas, it was not to be.  I don’t think I was mad at her because she had sold it, I was pissed because my little sister was a better entrepreneur than I was.  She was a 2nd or 3rd grader and she had played me like a drum.  Don’t worry, it wouldn’t be the last time she out-smarted me.

As the years passed I’d do my best to pass along musical trivia and recommendations to her, but like all teenagers, she got to the point that her own taste became her compass.  When we moved to North Carolina in 2001, Laura bought my record collection from me.  I had pretty much lost my passion (at least it had waned) for music around the mid 90’s.  Nothing really jumped out at me anymore.  Radio was either thrash metal or rap.  I’m a huge fan of neither.  The really good bands weren’t as plentiful anymore either.  I bided  my time buying the occasional CD, sometimes coming across someone worth listening to; The Refreshments and Tonic come to mind.  Whenever we talk, the subject of music will always come up.  What are you listening to, have you heard such and such, etc.  She’s held on to her passion and in recent years has helped keep me from becoming an old fuddy-duddy.  She’s burned a couple of CD’s for me with some of the newer bands like Keane, Ryan Adams and The Shins to name a few.  I know they may not be new to some of you, but they are to me.  I’ve gotten so out of touch that the first CD she sent me she labeled “Welcome To The Century”.  The teacher is now the student.  She’s given me a project to work on.  We were talking the other night and she asked me; “If you had to pick 20 songs that define your life, which ones would they be?”  Good question.  Do you want to see my research on String Theory and Wave Particle Duality also?  I started last week and I’m up to 328 songs.  I’m up to the G’s in my catalog.  I think I’ll have to whittle it down a little. 

As always, Laura has me thinking.  She never takes on anything half-heartedly.  She planned and executed a trip to New York City last year for all of the siblings to help Mom celebrate her 75th birthday.  It was incredible; the best trip I’ve ever been on.  She lives her life to the fullest, never wasting a moment of time on frivolous or unproductive things.  She told me the other day she hadn’t watched TV in almost 5 months.  I found something while preparing for this post that will prove what I’m saying. 

Laura made this for me for my birthday when she was 6 or 7 years old.  She did it all by herself.  She asked my Mom for the lid to “The Big Pot” and then got to work.  All of these years later it still brings a smile to my face whenever I look at it.  It symbolizes everything my sister has always been about: smiles and happiness.  Whenever I think of her and of this innocent creation by a 6 year old, I always get the same feeling.  Happy.  It always makes me happy.  And it’s then that I realize that even at 6 years old she was already accomplishing her goals.  Happy Birthday, Laura.  I Love you.