I have always been a fan of music.  I love all kinds.  I appreciate artists and their uniqueness.  I guess I have always been that way.  I can listen to Waylon Jennings "Ramblin' Man" one minute, "Kashmir" by Led Zepplin another, and then find myself dialed into XM Radio listening to The Highway all day long. 

I was a music fanatic growing up.  Listening to Casey Kasem was an every Sunday ritual.  I clung to every word Casey said, and I even enjoyed the "Long Distance Dedications".  I studied every person who was in the "Top 40" at the time.  I knew every one hit wonder from the 80's.  I was obsessed.  I had a tack board where I would clip out the top 40 singles that were published in the Austin American Statesman and I would tack them neatly in order.  I had every poster from Whitesnake to Guns N' Roses to a picture of a new Mustang GT 5.0. 

I loved tapes.  Oh, man were they great!  I had hundreds.  I would get my allowance every week and go to Waterloo Records and would gladly spend $6.99 on a tape.  This may sound silly, but I loved opening the tapes and I was so excited when the tapes were clear with a black strip across them with white lettering.  The smell of the tapes got me excited. 

Then came CD's.  Oh- the lovely CD.  I remember buying my first CD player like it was yesterday.  The sales person said, "hey man, you can't ruin a CD- it is much more durable than a tape.  Look at me.."  He then proceeded to stomp on the CD.  My Dad turned to me and said, I probably wouldn't do that and winked at me.  It was so cool. $300 seemed like a ton of money, but I WANTED it! 

Do you remember your first CD?  I sure do.  I actually bought 3 and looking back at it it made no sense.  I bought White Lion "Pride", "Cocktail" the Soundtrack, and Led Zeppelin IV.  C'mon Will!!  Kokomo??!!  I could have done better than that. 

Well, I still have those CD's.  I have hundreds of them also.  I rarely listen to them anymore.  I was 15 when "Wait" by White Lion came out.  I listened to it again tonight and now I am now 40. 

We were having a dance party at the Thomson household, a 2 year old, a 5 year old and an awesome wife were jamming out!  My kids were saying, "Dad this is horrible" and I had my air guitar out and found myself sticking out my tounge and going crazy. 

My kids will never know much about CD's, or TV where you can't pause live TV.  How did we survive without cell phones?  Hell, truthfully I don't know.  I guess every generation will have some story to tell.  I didn't grow up in the record era, but I know that the nostalgia of a record is something that can't be repicated by some. You can't even find an 8-Track anymore.  How awful were those?

Life is awesome.  We all have different experiences.  Now a days we are blogging, tweeting, checking our facebook and posting status updates all of the time.  I can't tell you what tomorrows "MUST HAVE" is.  An Iphone is something we can't live without now. 

I am just thankful for the experiences and enjoying all that life has to offer.  I hope when I am 70, I can pull out White Lion and jam to "Wait" again.  White Lion, you will have to "wait" until next time, but I will pull you back out. My kids will be my age now and talking about Taylor Swift and Blake Shelton.  Whie Lion, I won't forget.  Thanks for the memories.  Can you relate? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrPJgnOXjy8 

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