Grease Is the Word Under the Sea

As a young adult, my parents and I would often come to conflict over the music I listened to.  My parents enjoyed Glen Campbell and the Four Rs, along with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  At least these are what I remember from my childhood.  Even today when they take a road trip, you are most likely to listen to the scriptures on tape in their vehicle if you go with them.

I on the other hand loved Rock n Roll.  Foreigner, The Eagles, REO Speedwagon, Billy Joel and the like would be turned up as loud as possible when I was home alone.  I was able to find common ground with my parents with the ballads of Neil Diamond and Barry Manilow.  These are the Albums (LPs) that my parents would buy for me.  I have to admit I wore out many needles on our family record player listening.

My mom also instilled in me the love for Broadway Musicals.  How I loved Howard Keel in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and how amazed I was that Rick had never seen that movie till he watched it with me in Monterey.  My parents would always take us to the musical productions put on by the high school and the first movie I was ever allowed to attend on my own (with my sister but no parents) was The Sound of Music at the BYU theater.

Now fast forward 30 years.  I am the mom with teen-age and pre-teen children.  Somehow I have been lucky that we have not had too many fights about music in my home.  Maybe it's because instead of a turntable with speakers, my kids have the MP3 player and headphones, although last night our home was filled with the sounds of Taylor Swift coming from the girls' bedroom.  (BTW - It was the brothers that asked it be turned down, not the parents.)

Just as with my parents, Rick and I share a love of musical theater with our children.  This summer has been especially full.   

Saturday night as Sandy started to sing "Hopelessly Devoted to You", I looked over to see Lela lip-syncing along.  I joined with her for a very dramatic duet that had Wil shaking his head.  On the other side of Rick, Emily forgot the lip-syncing part and just sang along.  As the T-Birds espoused the superiority of Greased Lightning, I remembered the boys dancing to this same song years ago.

Whether it was the concerts in the park, the local junior theater production of Suessical or  The Little Mermaid and Grease at Tuachan, our family has made many musical memories this summer.  We are already planning next year to follow the yellow brick road.