OK Go and Music from My Teenage Years

I got to see one of my favorite bands, OK Go, perform last night!

During the concert, the band made a comment about one of the band members, Andy, being the “new kid”, having only been their guitarist for the last 22 years.

“Oh, since I was 10 years old!” I joked to my friends. I realized later on that 16 years ago, I was 16 years old. Half my life has passed since my sweet 16 birthday!

Anyway, the show was amazing! The setlist included so many nostalgic songs – like, songs that I remember listening to in my iPod with wired headphones, half-asleep on the bus to high school.

I’ve tried listening to more modern artists, but very few songs provide the same dopamine hit like music that I listened to in high school. After returning home, I listened to more familiar music while I finished my wind-down routine and escaped back into my teenage self again for just a couple of minutes.

So much has changed since that time – I live in a completely different state, almost all of my friends are completely different, and I’m married (!) with a job (!!) and a child (!!!). I’ve run 2 marathons (yay!) and am still in so much student loan debt (boo!).

After that night, my biggest takeaway was not actually about me or my high school life – it’s that my baby girl has her entire life ahead of her. She’ll get to make her own memories on the school bus! She’ll find her own artists that make her think, “Music was better when I was a teenager”! She’ll get to reflect on where her life will take her! The circle of life continues!