my morning commute.

this morning my iPod was on shuffle. and i got a big old good morning from sister yesterday. there are two songs in the world that turn me back in time. back to the days where i'd sit beside my single speaker cassette tape boombox (actually, it belonged to my older brother jamie, but i totally claimed minezies on it when he went away to college) and wait, finger upheld, perfectly above the circular REC button, hoping to capture my favorite songs from the static infested FM airwaves of Madison's own Z104. one of the songs was r.e.m.'s 'losing my religion,' but i liked that one b/c it reminded me of my grandpa's barn in richlan center. the other, i'm not really sure why i was drawn to other than the fact that i was an 8 year old girl, was the track above by miss sophie b. hawkins, a one hit wonder if i ever heard one. but DAMN, that song was catchy. and even though i was a mere 3rd grader, 8 year old jodi felt this jam tug at her pre-pubescent heart strings. how i wanted a boy in my class to hold my hand! look at me like i was pretty! circle YES on a 'do you like me circle yes/no/maybe' notebook note. these things never happened, but listening to sophie b. gave me hope anyway. that even this fully grown babe who could hold the key on eva and eva and eva and evAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA for like 90 seconds, yearns for a dude who wasn't hers, made me feel accepted. and normal. and way too mature for my age.

listening to this song some 20 years later, i still feel my heartstrings grip a tiny bit tighter, but now i can smile back on the days of my youth and assuredly smile that it all worked out in the end. all the while, looking super fly with my eyes half closed, jamming away to my 90's power fem jam on the business insect infested cta bus down lake shore drive.