Only the Good Die Young

stuckinindiana sunrise

The LOML and I recently took a trip across the country from the land of "stuckinindiana" to the beautiful, mountainous state of Colorado to help our son and his new bride move into an apartment on the CUB campus. They'll be there in grad school for the next two years. In the days and weeks leading up to the trip, we tried to organize four years of the lives of two students into what needed to be discarded, saved, and what could successfully be taken without the use of a moving van. As we neared the time of our departure, it became very questionable as to whether or not we could make everything fit in two cars. 


Despite heroic packing efforts on moving day, we discovered that there was no way to get everything in. We made a last minute decision to rent a vehicle and leave our Toyota at home. We rented an SUV then... crammed both vehicles to the ceilings, stuff items under our feet and wrapped things around us and headed out west. The LOML and I had not planned for the additional expense for the rental car but knew it was the only way to get things done. As I will write later... taking that bigger car ended up being a REAL blessing too!

As I'd packed up my own things early moving day, I'd thrown in a pair of earbuds & my old iPod that was a Valentines gift from the LOML. It has close to 2000 songs on it -- most of which were uploaded by the LOML in the mid-90's. Early into the trip, we discovered that the rental car would play the music on our iPods and iPhones right through the speaker system. What a treat! As we drove toward Kansas and through Kansas and through Kansas and through Kansas and through Kansas, we had an opportunity to listen to many of those songs. 

Kansas sunset

Those songs took us back to the days when each of us were growing up, going away to school, and becoming young adults. They took us back to a time when we were a young married couple with two children under the age of five who went to sleep at 8 PM allowing us to have time together alone. They took us back to singing loudly together on family trips as the kids grew up. 

The drive from "stuckinindiana" to Colorado is a long one. And, we had an opportunity to sing loudly to a lot of those songs. Late on the first evening we were listening to all our Billy Joel selections. And, we were singing loudly. All of a sudden I heard myself singing some of the lyrics and had a thought that made me laugh...

When you find yourself loudly singing along with Billy Joel to "Only the Good Die Young" and it hits you that you aren't exactly young anymore!!

I'm glad that I can laugh at myself. I've found that it really adds to the life as you are no longer really considered "young". Don't lose the ability to laugh at yourself.

And, since I am me, I documented quite a few of those songs with a quick picture. Here are only a few that we listen to…