Oasis and the Hypthetical, Lifesaving Surgery
Today, while on the way to pick up my younger daughter from basketball practice I’d hear the radio host on “mommy’s boomer station” say that when David Letterman awoke from emergency heart surgery back in 2000, the first thing he wanted to do was listen to the Foo Fighters’ song “Everlong.” The host would then open up the text lines to learn what songs the listeners wanted to hear right after waking up from a hypothetical, lifesaving surgery, and the first song out of the gate was Oasis’ “Live Forever,” which I got to say was quite apropos.
As I listened to “Live Forever,” memories would start flooding in from the Summer and Fall of 1995, back when I was a full-time university student while simultaneously working at this quaint, little coffee shop, where I would play “Live Forever” LOUD, and on repeat, while cleaning the cafe after closing with my “Rachel, from Friends” haircut and my “Rachel, from Friends” body, and those supersized coffee mugs, you know the ones with the diameter of a supersized New York City bagel. Back then, my whole life stretched out before me, where hope hung heavier than the moon.
I’d remember the time when I waited on a fellow student, whom I had a serious crush on, resembling Jared Leto a.k.a. Jordan Catalano from My So-Called Life, who’d write down his phone number on an unused white napkin, along with leaving a generous tip, and how I’d never called him because I was convinced I’d inevitably screw up any positive perception he may have had of me — it was only a matter of time. So for a whole year that napkin sat at the bottom of my makeup bag, smeared with papaya-colored blush and black eyeliner from all the loose shavings, looking really gross and tattered. I’d end up throwing the napkin away for good.
The first thing my daughter did when entering the car was change the station to her preferred Gen Z channel, 106.7, where I was forced to listen to Dua Lipa, The Weeknd, and Doja Cat, respectively, on the way home.
During the drive, I’d ask her the meaning of “cap,” the new Gen Z buzz word, and she’d roll her big, hazel-green eyes in response. We also talked about her good grade on her math quiz. My thoughts would then drift to dinner, and a list of unending chores after dinner.
Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. — Ferris Bueller
