Those Random Special Moments that Spark Joy

I have not done a Husband Follies lately, but my husband remains the same funny and fun, quirky guy he always has been, and still has the opposite of my personality. Please use the search feature (magnifying glass in middle of blog site)  to find and read these FUNNY and interesting “Husband Follies” blogs which will be featured prominently in the Best of Hot Flashes book I will be self publishing in the near future. You will be glad you did for they are sure to bring you a smile.

For this blog though, I wanted to share a moment in time that we had together, just to show how sometimes an older couple, longtime married, can share a fun and intimate moment and just be kids again— for the moment. It is those moments that spark joy.

My longtime readers will recall that I recently wrote a blog (Linked here in case you missed it and it is worth reading) remembering two songs from my youth, and the youthful moments that I time traveled back to when I heard those songs again. Remembering a moment in time is a special talent I have and I can picture scenes as if they were a movie right in front of me, no matter how far back. Music often stirs up these memories and time travel.

However, this moment in time happened in the present, and it is really wonderful that I also can enjoy the present which is also chock-full of special, fun, loving, and fulfilling moments.

Sometimes, yes sometimes, my husband and I can remove ourselves out of our roles as husband and wife, father and mother, granddad and grandmom (Bubbie in my case) with all the attached responsibilities involved with all of those roles; and we just go out on a fun date. On these occasions, we are just a boy and a girl, out to have fun.

We went to a concert recently, and this is not unusual, as both of us enjoy going to live musical concerts, even though our taste in music only converges in some respects. In this case, both of us were primed and pumped for a “Classic Albums Live” concert featuring The Who. Currently, those old-timers original band members who formed that great rock group The Who are also touring, but we love to see the group known as “Classic Albums Live” perform as our favorites because they are meticulous at matching note for note and voice for voice in re-creating the sound of the group’s albums and songs.

It was a lovely evening. We enjoyed the music, and sang and danced along to many favorites. At the end of the night, we loaded up in our car for the short ride home from our venue, and I pointed out that one of my personal The Who favorites was not covered. Judging from the voices calling for songs from the audience, I was not the only one who wanted to hear The Who’s song “Squeezebox” because many others shouted out for it. The “Classic Albums Live” group on stage was NOT taking requests though.

Squeezebox (YouTube video linked here) was probably a novelty song by a very serious group that went on to do rock operas like Tommy, and was possibly a throwaway song, but they absolutely had some fun with it and killed it on the recording because it ended up charting on the Billboard singles chart. (Number 16 in 1975 on the US singles charts) That’s a hit record by anyone’s standards.
Therefore, it was a big enough hit that many people in our audience wanted to hear it. It was not happening with “Classic Albums Live,” a group that takes their work quite seriously.

The Who also took their work seriously and are loathe to discuss this fun number that was truly one of their hits, yet no squeezeboxes (including Mama’s or any other) were harmed in the making of it; and in fact though it has great guitar licks and banjo in it, there is no squeezebox or accordion used in it at all.

I told Gary, my husband, that we should play that song in the car so we can say we heard it during that great date night. So I played it loud and clear on YouTube in the car, and we both sang along passionately at the top of our lungs, and of course with smiles on our faces at the comedy and sexual innuendo of the lyrics. Gary, who used to play guitar and sing to me, has a beautiful singing voice and he was able to pull off the falsetto bridge part of the song, “Come on and Squeeze Me…” and we just sang and giggled at the song, enjoying each other and the music, and the special evening we had together. At that moment, we were just two crazy kids, enjoying the very same thing, and singing our hearts out.

It was one of those moments that defies our age because we could truly be kids out on a date and having fun again.There we were, just enjoying each other and sharing something special at a crazy, random moment in time. It hearkened me back to so many moments I had like this as a kid, where I was just tickled and happy, and singing to something truly enjoyable. Remember novelty songs like “Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road” and “The No-No Song?” Oh, I had a lot of fun with those back in the day.

I highly recommend taking note of these special moments in your life that spark some joy. Doing this will make you feel young at heart, even if you are old seniors like the two of us. I know I write way too much about musical moments, but they are part of the fabric of my life, so I can’t avoid it. Let me hear what you think. And yes, it is a classic song.

2 comments

  • How about those Astros???

    CHEATERS

    • Julius Joel Fisher

      Enjoyable read. I always enjoyed hearing Loudon Wainright’s “Dead Skunk” along with Randy Newman’s “Short People” and Warren Zevon’s “”Werewolves of London.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *