21 and under...

well, here we are...
early sunday morning, and i've decided to go with my gut today.
there are loads of times i wake up for a second, and have a good idea (well, of course, that's all relative) of somethin to write about, but then i go back to sleep, and when i wake back up, i've forgotten this so called good idea.
i kick myself a little each time i do that.
but not today, i woke up with a thought, and decided why not get up right this moment, and just write it.
truth is, sometimes you don't have the luxury of going with it, because of responsibilities, but today, i have none.
sooooooooooo, with that, i give you my waking thought :)
the other day, i took, a friend of mine to a concert.
it was a concert i was pretty excited about, but that she really didn't know either of the bands performing.
i had discovered both on that lovely little deal called pandora.
these bands always seemed to pop up on my ray lamontagne station.
so, a couple months ago, as luck would have it, i happened to notice on my facebook feed that one of them was comin to town, and low behold, the other was opening for them.
two birds with one stone!  woohoo!
i was totally excited!
it was at a small concert venue as well, one of those kind that there are no seats, and a little bar very close to the stage...so basically, everywhere you are is near the stage, but if you're lucky, you're right next to the stage, and it's like they're in your living room, playin for you...
and well, i guess a group of your best friends.  haha!
anyways, we arrive at the door and the bouncer people card us...
which always makes me laugh...45 and getting carded is kinda hilarious, but from the bouncer's face, he didn't think it was funny at all...and didn't consider thank you to be anythin he needed to reply to.  haha!  probably for the small fact that there were two lil hotties in short dresses right behind us.
we laughed as we walked in because the bouncer barely even could make the effort to look our way, because his eyes were firmly glued onto the two chicadees behind us.  hahahahha!
so, thus we enter...
now this venue also is a 18 and over place...since it does serve alcohol, and well, it has that sort of bar atmosphere.
it's already a bit crowded up front, but we move around the side where the bar is...and happen to be able to walk right into a nice lil spot, pretty close to the stage, and be able to grab a brew as well.  perfect!
the roadies were just putting the final touches on the stage, when we begin to look around.
my friend looks over at me, and asks me if i notice that everyone in the place is young...way young. 
i laugh and say, 'yeah, there seem to be a lot of young people here.'
but the bands are both young and good looking.  seems to go with the territory.
when the first group comes out, people begin screaming and dancing and singing...it's awesome!  and i'm happy as a lark.
meanwhile, my friend notices that there are loads of people, as they are waving their hands in the air, that have x's marked largely on their hands.  you know, like with a fat magic marker...that large!  she leans over to me, and asks me why i think that is, and after a second of thought, i tell her it's because they're under 21.
the key to this answer, 'under 21'.
for pretty much the rest of the night, she just can't believe that we're in a place that has a sea of x's all around us, and there we are, two older women, listening right with them.
every so often she would lean over and tell me how old she felt.
actually, she said it a lot.
at one point, i leaned over to her and said, 'you know, the secret to remaining young is to surround yourself with youth'...
   and hey, 'who cares who's around us, it's about the music, it's about having fun, just let go and enjoy'.
during that night, we would look over at each other and just giggle at the fact that we were literally the oldest people there.
which brings me to my waking thought...
i am so very glad that music does not have an age limit.
that you can hear something and love it and just be part of the music.
i often wonder, when i'm out at a bar that has live music, if when i get much older, i'll still feel like dancing when i hear something that has a good beat or want to sing, when i hear a tune that i know by heart.
i wonder if there is this point in life, where you stop wanting to sing and dance and enjoy what's right in front of you,
without worry or concern for what everyone else is thinking of you, but with the sole intent to be in the music.
because for me, i may be that old woman that is standing there, just smiling and doin a lil jig...i might be just be that lady.  haha!
i don't know about you, but there are days that i recognize my age, and i'm so surprised by it.  how did it get here?!
i don't feel 45 when i hear a lil jay-z, taylor swift, justin timberlake, snoop dogg, the biebs (yep, i said it!  haha!).
and then i wonder, when will i grow up?
the answer...
i'm kind of hoping, never :)
it's funny as you get older, how you notice certain things a lil more than when you were younger.
and for the last few years, when i'm out, i will see maybe a person that is 20 years my elder, and i wonder what they are doing in a bar like this...
the answer...
the same damn thing i'm doing...
getting out...
being in the world...
enjoying what's in front of us.
the problem with that is we set age limits for ourselves in life.
by the time we get to 20, we'll be in the midst of the college of our choice...
by the time we get to 25, we'll be married...
by the time we get to 30, we'll have 2.5 children (don't know how that works though.  haha!)
by the time we get to 35, we'll be well put together and have it all figured out, where we are going and what we are doing...
question is...who made these freakin rules?!  and why do we blindly, follow them?! 
geeeeeeeeeeeeeez!!!!!!!!!
problem with all of that is...what happens if life hits you, and you're not going according to plan?  then what?
screw all that.
if i did everything according to age...god, i wouldn't have had some of the great times i've had in my life.
you know that saying, 'act your age'?
ignore it completely!
be ridiculous sometimes...that's why we've worked so hard to get here in the first place!
so, we get older...the fact is, i take glucosamine, i worry about what i put in my body, i can't stay up late several days in a row without feeling like crap, i ache a lil when i get up in the mornin...that's part of the way it is...
but that doesn't mean we have to stop living.
yeah, maybe we have to be smarter and be more responsible. (i'm still working on that one)
but when it comes to music, all bets are off!
and thank god, music doesn't have an age limit!
and thank god, i can hear a 'teenie bopper' song on the radio, and i can sing as loud as i want to, right by myself, right out my windows.
i don't care in the least who hears or see's me!  hahahaha!
maybe it's a book, i can't remember at the moment, it's early, but it's called 'when i'm old i shall wear purple'...
in my mind, i've always thought that means that at a certain age, we stop caring what others think, we've paid our dues, we're old, we can do what we want, like wear purple, it's such a young color, vibrant and full of energy.
if i'm there already, i'm wearing some damn purple, and i'm break dancin if i want to, and i'm refusing to explain myself to anyone, if they ask :)  haha!
music for me is life and love and everything!
so, yeah, we were the oldest people in that bar, that night.
but we danced, we sang, and we lived.
that's what it's all about.
living.