Hip Hop Hooray by Naughty by Nature

It was my first real high school party.  Sort of.  My dad stayed in his room, so it wasn't truly one of those ragers you threw when your parents were out of town.  And there was no booze. Fine, so let's call it a plain old high school party.  The truth is I didn't expect it to compare to the high school parties I attended in Germany, but it still ended up being awfully fun.

My Dad had spent the fall remodeling the house, with our help.  Part of the remodel included white carpets throughout the house.  This meant that anyone who entered the house had to remove their shoes. Imagine the pile of shoes made by 30 teenagers.  Then imagine said teenagers discovering how much fun it is to run and slide across the hardwood in the entryway.  Super fun.  Did I mention 30 teenagers?  It was a great turnout - all the cool kids (in the band) were there.  There might've even been some non-band friends there, but the most important guest was my adorable German boyfriend. In fact, he was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to throw the party, aside from the fact that I liked parties a whole lot and it was definitely my turn to throw one by that point in the year.  I wanted my friends to get to know Bastian, and let's be honest, I wanted to show him off.

Dave T. came through with the best music, as always.  The sounds of Hip Hop Hooray-ho-hey-ho came over the speakers and I saw Dave throw his hands in the air, followed by everyone else.  I had never heard the song before and in that moment, I had never felt cooler.  Until the moment that a CD got stuck in the CD player.  There was a split second of panic and in the blink of an eye, Dave, Mauricio L, and Bastian had disconnected the CD player, whisked it into the garage, and started performing an emergency disk removal. I loved this moment, the possibility we broke something, the boys coming to the rescue.  In my mind, it was the mark of a great party. It was tense for a moment, but they were ultimately successful, my dad was never the wiser, and the music was soon blasting from the speakers again.

Stolen Dance by Milky Chance

I was sitting at a table at Seasons 52 with my new boss, her boss, and 2 new colleagues.  It was the last night of my work trip to Dallas. I had traveled to Dallas to start my new (old) job, after a 4 1/2 year hiatus as a stay-at-home mom. It was positively the most adult experience I had in years.  It was my first overnight away from Lila, so it had been at least 18 months since I had spent a night by myself.  I was in heaven.  When I first learned I needed to go back to work full-time, I was honestly panicked.  I felt sad, I felt guilty.  Then when I was sitting in the airport on my way to Dallas holding nothing but my purse (no kids, no diaper bag, no stroller, no snacks), I felt guilty in an entirely different way because I was enjoying myself so darn much!!  I didn't realize how much I needed this break and how ready I actually was to recapture some sense of who I was as an individual, not just the mother of my darling children. It would take some getting used to, but I was well on my way.

It was an exciting 3 days of training and seeing faces new and old.  I was excited to be back at such a great company amongst some really great people.  The days were long and tiring in a completely different way.  The nights were beyond fun.  I didn't have to cook, clean up, or deal with any of the nighttime routine.  I could watch a show in my bed.  I could take a glass of wine up to my room.  I got to go out to dinners at grown up restaurants that didn't serve chicken nuggets and no one was picking off of my plate or asking for something.  I got to hang out at the hotel bar and talk to other adults.  I got to dress up in my fantastic new work clothes and I looked and felt like a million bucks. Sitting in Seasons 52, I was immensely enjoying my dinner and heard this song playing overhead.  I figured out what it was later that evening and downloaded it. I listened to it obsessively all the way home on the plane and waiting for my bags at baggage claim.  One year later, it still reminds me of the start of a new adventure and a new phase of my life.