All Grown Up About It

     John Lennon said, "Life is what happens when you're busy making plans."
     What he should have said was, "Life happens. Don't be all grown up about it."
     Sometimes we spend so much time growing up that we forget how to have whimsy, and--if only for brief moments--be like children again. It has been years since my last concert. I work nights and tickets are expensive. But there came one night I received a phone call from my best friend.
     "What are you doing Saturday?"
     "Nothing, I guess."
     "Good. You're coming with me to see Jimmy."
     That's Jimmy Eat World.
     "Okay," I told him, though I felt reticent.
     We need to go back to around 200r or so, when Jimmy Eat World came out with their follow up to Futures, which--to this day--is my favorite album of all time. And their album, Chase This Light, was a massive let down. It was too uppity, I said then, and never gave it a second listen. Sure I kept going back to Futures and Bleed American, but that feeling that I had outgrown my favorite band never left me.
     Then came the show. We stood on the floor of the theatre--Emo kids, barely old enough to drive on the left; a balding thirty year old in front of me; my clone standing almost behind me. How funny it seemed to be standing there with a whiskey sour waiting for a band I abandoned before I could drink in Canada.
     Then I was caught up in The Whirlwind, singing the "whoa's" with the rest of them. The teens and their dads.
     I gave Chase This Light another listen. It still isn't Futures, but I can appreciate it for what it is--fun; catchy. I can like "fun; catchy" every now and again. I just need to remind myself to quit being so grown up about it.