You Can’t Stop Time. But You Sure Can Enjoy Yourself.

It was the early 1990s and I was doing some work at my university’s radio station.  Every morning I announced the the morning headlines at precisely 6:45 am, and I had to get there early enough to check the AP wires and figure out the day’s headlines (don’t ask me how I woke up).  Before and after my broadcast, and every chance I got, I’d listen to the station.  It was a mix of alternative, rock and classic music, most of it I loved.  It was around that time I got turned on to Jill Sobule, a singer from Denver.  Her songs about adolescence, feminism, love, breaking up, anorexia, the death penalty and other issues of the heart all resonated with me. At the time, I was all about other female singers like Suzanne Vega, Paula Cole,  Sarah McLachlan, Lisa Loeb, Alanis Morisette and Jill Sobule fit right into the genre that appealed to me.  Who can forget her 1995 track, “I Kissed a Girl” and her fab music video featuring Fabio?  Sobule has been in and out of my life ever since, as I have followed her eclectic career that includes compilations, albums, appearances, blogs and more. Every year since I moved to Westchester 9 years ago (how has it been that long?), she has played a small cafe in my town and I have missed every appearance.  So this year, even though my husband was away on business and I had to move mountains to get there, I made my way to her show.

And you know what?  I loved every minute of it.  I love going back in time to a time long gone, like, for example, that time of my life.  Jill Sobule looks the same, she sounds great and the experience made me feel young again. I listened to each song with a smile on my face and reminisced.  I even met her after the show.

I have been doing a lot of that lately.  Reminiscing.  I guess it has something to do with being over 40 and realizing that time is going faster than ever.  I don’t feel my age, I don’t look my age, and neither do any of my friends.  But we’re older, we’re nearing 50 (in eight years! I sound like Meg Ryan from “When Harry Met Sally”).  I recently met up with a bunch of old friends where I grew up and it was like time had stopped.  They looked the same, but the truth is that we all are going through mid-life changes, crises, events.  We’re dying our hair, fighting wrinkles and controlling our bulging bellies.  You can’t stop time.

But you sure can enjoy yourself in the meantime.

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