Creed

I am going to make a bold statement. One that my wife wishes I wouldn’t make. Yet, this is who I am… I am a fan of Creed.

 

Gonna let that sink in…

Okay, cool. So, we’re still friends? Great.

The first time I remember hearing Creed was during the tailer for Titan A.E. In fact, I think it is THE reason I watched and liked the movie. When I learned how to play guitar the two songs I really wanted to know the intro to were Higher, by Creed, and Johnny B. Goode, by Chuck Berry.

Creed’s drop D tuning style of guitar was extremely popular at the time. I think the abundance of music that sounded like Creed led to people disliking Creed. Well, I posit that everyone still secretly liked Creed. By their third album most Creed fans were closet Creed fans. Then when Scott Stapp went on a solo career everyone claimed to have never liked them.

I challenge you to go back to My Own Prison and not sing along with “One.”

Years ago I wrote a Facebook note (that’s how you know it was a long time ago… a Facebook note?) where I tried to defend my liking Creed. My claim was that anything older than 10 years can have nostalgic value. Creed certainly has nostalgic value for me. I’m not sure what I was looking for as a response to my note. But, one response was to just like the music I like and be cool with it. So… I like Creed.

I also like Katy Perry…. Taylor Swift… and Carly Rae Jepsen… Admittedly I am a little more reticent to share that. And for good reason. When people do find out that I am jamming out to these chicks at work I get odd looks.

When I was doing my internship last summer I was jamming to California Gurls when my phone started ringing. My phone stops playing music when it rings, but I still had to remove my headphones to answer… Anyway, I missed the call, so my phone resumed playing music… into a very, very quiet office hall. I quickly stopped the song and absolute silence resumed. Yet, I knew full well that the VP of Strategic Marketing and my cube neighbor both heard the outburst. The silence was uncomfortable. I boldly declared that I liked Katy Perry, and that that song holds special memories for me of when I lived in California. I’m not sure the laughter was more comforting than the silence.

Now, when my co-workers ask what I am listening to I have started just saying Metallica or Black Sabbath… It’s not worth defending that the beats help me focus and make me feel so happy 🙂

As I await the arrival of my second child I have found myself taking these more random thoughts and transitioning them into how I want to be as a parent. When I think about Creed and Katy Perry I think it is great for me to like whatever music I like. I mean Country fans like terrible music and nobody seems to think twice about it. I also think that it’s fine for me to not blast and shout from the roof tops that tonight… yea… I am feelin’ 22…

It reminds me of a wonderful quote… from Wreck it Ralph;

” I am bad and that is good, I will never be good and that’s not bad, there’s no one I’d rather be than me”

I do love who I am, and I have even made peace with the path that has led me to who I am. Yet, I would not be the person I am today if I was satisfied with who I am. Obviously, this takes us far from taste in music.

I believe that the transition from child to adult is an extremely important one. There are still so many things I do that are childish… like I barely eat any vegetables… But, there are also childish things that I have left behind. For instance, I know that if I have a problem with someone’s actions I need to verbalize it. Or, that if I am talking to someone I need to validate what they say.

When I look back at my past I honestly feel lucky that I learned any of these lessons. Not to criticize my parents, because I feel like they gave me the tools that I used to make better decisions and learn what I have learned. But still, I look back at the past and so many decisions could have gone the other way, and then where would I be?

I look at my little girl and I can’t help but see how perfect and naive she is.  I love having the responsibility of helping her explore and see this world. Everything is exciting and new to her. And every one of those discovery moments melts my heart.

I feel so blessed that I have been given the gift and responsibility to teach my children how to grow from children into adults. I am grateful to my parents who gave me the tools I had to become who I am. The world my babies are growing up in is crazy, and lately I have been going over what I would say to my kids when situations arise. But, one questions I have not been able to answer well is:

Do I get my two year old her own cell phone?

I mean… sure none of her friends have one. So she would totally have a leg up on them. But, what about the extra screen time? I’m really not feeling like she is mature enough to monitor that herself. Yet, she has proven that she can grow into new experiences. We got her a slide way before she was old enough for it. She mastered that pretty quick. Then again, that is how she broke her arm….

^^^^^Serious dilema.

In all seriousness… I like ending a post with a challenge, if for no one else but myself. Hopefully, we all know it is easier to make a decision in a tough situation when we have already decided what we would do in that type of tough situation.

So the challenge…

Decide now how and what tools you will give to your kids. Oh yeah, and make sure they know its okay to listen to whatever music they like. Obviously so long as it is clean… and not country 😛