Downtown

Tonight my kids and I undertook the daunting task of cleaning their bedrooms. I'm pretty laissez-faire about the state of their rooms, so the messiness was at a maximum. My daughter asked if I'd bring my computer upstairs so she could listen to some music while we worked, and when I did, this is the song she requested:

When you're alone

And life is making you lonely,

You can always go downtown

When you've got worries,

All the noise and the hurry

Seems to help, I know, downtown

Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city

Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty

How can you lose?

The lights are much brighter there

You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares and go

Downtown, things'll be great when you're

Downtown, no finer place for sure,

Downtown, everything's waiting for you

(Downtown)

I have no idea how she knows that song, but I loved that she requested it, and I enjoyed listening to it with her repeatedly while we worked. She specifically said to me: "Don't write about this in your blog tonight, Mom." But you know that feeling you had when your parents asked you not to do something that you knew wouldn't really do any harm, so you did it anyway? Well, I'm hear to report that I sometimes have that same feeling now, as the parent, and I still get that satisfying feeling that comes with benign defiance. Is it just me, or is that a universal feeling?