Rainy Days and Mondays

The Duke.

When we were teens, the grandparents loaded Dana and I up in the motorhome and took us on an adventure. To Silverwood. It was, at the time, an 'Old Fashioned Town'. Just Regular Grandma's speed. A step back in time, where we could possibly learn something too. There was no giant wooden roller coaster, no waterpark, no delicious junk food. It was people in old-timey outfits and us watching The Flying Leathernecks at an old fashioned theater. In black and white.

That is not a complaint, by the way.

There was a train and an air show too. I'm not saying that it was a downer or anything. It was actually an amazingly good time.






And, where I learned the words to every Carpenters song.

Every. Song.



I long to be... close to you.

Now, you're probably wondering... what?

Stick with me here...

On the afternoon of our Silverwood adventure, it began to rain. Like really rain. Not the nice Oregon mist I live in now but the heavy, dark cloud, hot summer day in North Idaho kind of rain. We retreated to the motorhome. 30 feet of Winnebago in the pouring rain isn't that exciting...

Crank it.

We were playing gin rummy. Probably getting schooled in gin rummy... We needed some background music to liven the place up. My grandparents, like most, had the suitcase thing of cassettes. In it, there were one million cassette tapes. One had songs with words. One. The Carpenters. Greatest Hits. Available now on eBay for 12.99. I'm almost tempted. But, alas, have no technology in which to play a cassette.

So, I did the only thing I could. I put the Carpenters in the cassette player of the RV and cranked it up. All the way to 11. Now, imagine two teenage girls, rocking to Rainy Days and Mondays with their mid-sixties grandparents playing rummy. In the rain. That, my friends, is a solid afternoon. Enough of an afternoon that I'm writing about it all these years later...

The beauty of the Carpenters is that they stick with you. 25 or 26 years later, I still know all the words. To all the songs. You want to freak out your tween? Sing to the Carpenters. Loudly. Then text a picture of said embarrassment along with the lyrics to your sister, their aunt. Because, nothing makes a day better than knowing you embarrassed your tween and planted an ear worm in your sisters ear - right as she's starting her work day.

It's true that Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.

But, don't they get everyone down? If they don't, you might just be on the top of the world. Looking down on creation.

The only ride in 1989.

Yesterday Once More

When I was young
I'd listen to the radio
Waitin' for my favorite songs
When they played I'd sing along
It made me smile

Those were such happy times
And not so long ago
How I wondered where they'd gone
But they're back again
Just like a long lost friend
All the songs I loved so well.

Every Sha-la-la-laEvery Wo-o-wo-oStill shinesEvery shing-a-ling-a-lingThat they're startin' to sing's
So fine.

When they get to the partWhere he's breakin' her heartIt can really make me cryJust like before
It's yesterday once more.

Lookin' back on how it wasIn years gone byAnd the good times that I hadMakes today seem rather sad
So much has changed.

It was songs of love thatI would sing to thenAnd I'd memorize each wordThose old melodiesStill sound so good to meAs they melt the years away.

Every Sha-la-la-laEvery Wo-o-wo-oStill shinesEvery shing-a-ling-a-lingThat they're startin' to sing'sSo fine.

All my best memoriesCome back clearly to meSome can even make me cry.Just like beforeIt's yesterday once more