Livin' on a Prayer...

Let me hear a big shout out from all the kids of the 80's!! This was THE era of the "mix tape". If you are a child of the 80's you know that those homemade, heartfelt, had to wait for the top ten at ten on the radio to catch that song, expression of love was the rage! Even as an adult thoughts of the infamous mix tapes created by my own hands stirs as much emotion as looking at pictures of the babies I have personally brought into the world!! Oh you laugh...but one of my best friends (who shall remain nameless to protect her from public mockery) can still be moved to tears during girl pow-wow's when thoughts of recording the same song 17 times front and back (both sides of the tape...duh!) held the same song. Sent out to the one she loved on the eve of their breakup! Basically that equates to 437 hours of solid crying time. This was a cheap yet meaningful way to scream "I love you". I gave Erik the first of only a few (cuz cd's came out and wrecked the whole thing) mix tapes on our 2 month anniversary. I am almost positive it was on that night the first I love you's were exchanged! If you weren't a teen at that time you probably don't know the thought and skill that would go into making the perfect mix. First, you had to be almost psychic to press record and play at the exact moment the radio was possibly going to play the song you were waiting for. One could wait in anticipation for up to 3 hours with fingers on high alert just to capture the song. In addition, at that same moment be able to coordinate no one in the whole house moving, breathing, opening doors, answering phones, etc. because that would wreck the whole thing and you would have to start a six hour process all over again. The same amount of intuition was crucial for the ending of the song. The whole thing was a wash if the radio personality would start talking before the song completely ended! All that drama could only be avoided if you had were fortunate enough to have so much babysitting money you could afford to buy every single tape you wanted and have a dual tape deck to perform tape to tape recording. So, for every girl who ever ever shed a tear to Richard Marx, "Right here waiting for you" or really believed you were going to marry that guy because you were 15 years old, knew it all, and Bon Jovi had you convinced you were "half way there and livin on a prayer"...this one's for you!!!

Idea #4
Make a compilation of love songs and upload it...download it...or just sing it at the top of your lungs to your sweety. Or better yet...make a mix tape!! Happy Loving!!

PS. The first 5 songs on my playlist are dedicated to those memories...and to Erik!!