A lot of my grandsons experience of listening to music comes from his journeys in cars. I'm not sure what music he is being exposed to in his parents cars but I've just found a list of songs he left on the coffee table to give to his aunt for downloading for him and I take full responsibility for his choices and may have to consider censoring what is playing when he is with me.
The list is in his own spelling and his own titles for the tracks he selected.
'In The Getto'
Lazy Song
Major Tom
Postman Song
Monster
Bojangles
Breaking Glass song
Stand By Me
Laughing Song
Bang Bang
and finally a song that must be on every child's list
It was on the first day of secondary school that I met Kitty. We were 11 years old and while I was tall and gangly with a mop of gingery blonde hair (which I called strawberry blonde) Kitty was petite and olive skinned with poker straight brown hair. Her dark brown eyes (which Kitty called hazel) were actually as bright as buttons as she bounced up to me and, pointing at the blue badge on my blazer lapel, said 'we're in the same house'. Although for that first year of school we were in a different form class from that moment on we became best friends and that friendship was to last until Kitty died last month.
Maybe it's just me but friendship is a relationship that I tend to let take it's own course and one that I don't usually lose any sleep over. So much time is spend thinking about, and nurturing, our relationships with our partners, lovers, parents, children, siblings and even work colleagues that there is little energy left over to take care of those relationships that - if built on solid ground, can take care
of themselves. Friendships can be intense or casual and you know you have a good, healthy friendship if it can be 'put on hold' at certain times and when you get back in touch it is as if you have never been apart. There are no recriminations about the time apart just the joy of spending time together again.
Kitty and I had an intense friendship throughout our teens. We saw each other everyday, including weekends, had zillions of sleepovers, shared our innermost thoughts and secrets and even on occasion shared a boyfriend or two though not at the same time. We had our first taste of alcohol together (Snowballs - which progressed to cider, then vodka and black then vodka and American), we had our first kiss at the same time (by the sheds with Steve and Keith) and she was the first person I told when I lost my virginity. We both made the bad decision to leave school at 16 and both went into hairdressing. Kitty was there when I met my future husband and she was godmother of my first born who in turn was a bridesmaid to Kitty when she married.
We loved and trusted each other but also got on one another's nerves. She was always late and although she had the best mother in the world she was sometimes horrible to her and this used to make me angry and we would argue about it. Kitty also had very good taste and whatever outfit she wore she was always the height of fashion and it would look great on her which used to piss me off sometimes.
Kitty was more confident and adventurous than me. She learned to drive at 17 (which in the 70s was unusual) and went on a Kibbutz.
Kitty and I drifted apart as we became busy working mothers and although we stayed in touch over the years our friendship was put on hold. We made new best friends and got on with life. However whenever we did get together it was always easy to pick up where we left off and it was very comforting to spend time with someone who knew the 'you' you were before life events had shaped who and what you were today
Several years ago, as our children grew up and we had more time on our hands, Kitty and I started to see each other on a regular basis meeting up every other month. I loved these evening as we sometimes revisited moments in our youth but more often lived in the today and it was gratifying to know that the people we had become liked each other too and wanted to spend time together. Our friendship was never one that needed constant contact. We were happy to come together several times a year. I naively thought that this would continue for years to come until we were little old ladies telling tales of our great grandchildren but Kitty has gone.
I had bought a new cd and one of the tracks was 'Ordinary People' by John Legend. Its funny how some songs pass you by but on the 30th May 2014 I found this song and was playing it on repeat as I drove home. As I parked the car and was listening to the song more time I noticed a text on my phone from Kitty. Only it wasn't from Kitty. It was from her husband using her phone and the message was telling me that Kitty had died that morning. This beautiful song, even though Kitty was far from ordinary, will always be connected to Kitty's death for me.
Kitty's funeral was lovely. No, really an amazing day filled with love and joy and a fitting tribute to a wonderful woman. One of the songs that had been chosen was a song that Kitty and I loved in the 70s and formed part of our getting ready to go out ritual.
And from the wonderful Imelda May a great song that sums up what losing Kitty has made me realise and a track I'll be rocking in my car this summer..............
Rat symbolizes such character traits as wit, imagination and curiosity. Rats have keen observation skills and with those skills they’re able to deduce much about other people and other situations. Overall, Rats are full of energy, talkative and charming.
