Life's Soundtrack

I, Julie, have decided to steal Ethan's thunder for a moment because for once I'm able to sit down and have some relatively deep thoughts of my own. Keep in mind, I said "relatively". So last night my dear friend Nicole and I went to see Switchfoot, Jars of Clay and Third Day in concert. Now first let me just say that it was fabulous, but I'm not writing to brag about our amazing tickets that we happened to get for free by some random twist of fate. No, actually there is nothing like a concert to make you feel really young and really old at the same time.

It all started when Jars came out. Nicole and I looked at each other and said, "Man, they look OLD!" Of course the next obvious question is...what does that say about us? Memories of the first time we saw Jars came flooding back, no pun intended. It was our senior year of high school (1996...yikes!) and back when no one had heard of them. We thought they were so cute back then, not so much anymore. Then Switchfoot came out...again, looking older. I remember playing "The Legend of Chin" album while driving to Colorado for Intervarsity's Chapter Camp. They were just an obscure San Diego band that no one in Arizona knew. Hmm...I guess a few more people have heard of them now.

And last, my favorite out of the bunch came out....good old Third Day. They said they've been a band for SIXTEEN years! That is crazy! Nicole and I used to listen to "Love Song" in our dorm room for hours. As they were singing, I also thought about the first time I saw Third Day live...with a group of friends which included this shy guy named Mark who I had just recently met. And then my mind drifted to our wedding, in which every song we chose for the ceremony was a Third Day song. They truly are absolutely amazing and I can't wait until they lead worship for us in Heaven.

In short, this music has certainly had a lasting imprint on my life's story. Last night it made me feel young and alive. On the flip side, when you look around and see that your fellow concert-goers are mostly forty year-olds with their children....you kind of wonder who your cohort is these days. And I realized that the teenagers behind us probably saw us as middle-agers reliving their youth. So maybe I am getting older, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. With age comes dreams fulfilled, memories created, and wisdom attained and I like to think I've come along way since my first Jars concert.

So Mom and Dad, I think I now understand the nostalgia that must come from listening to The Beach Boys, The Eagles, and of course, good old Kenny, Dolly and Willie. I apologize for my younger days of rolling my eyes when we had to sing "Islands in the Stream", "Barbara Ann", "On the Road Again" and "Take It Easy" in the car. I'm sure Ethan will do the same when Mark and I sing Third Day on the top of our lungs when we take family vacations. But hopefully one day, he'll understand and the music of his youth will bring him some beautiful memories as well.