When I was Your Age...

Annika has a new favorite song - Cara Mia by Måns ??, an entry in the Eurovision Song Contest. I have now heard it at least 47 times, and surely more to come. Technology is a wonderful thing - most of the time. When we can skip back to a favorite song again and again with a single push of a button? How easy it is. My memory is now full of favorite tracks (Cara Mia, track 2 on Absolute 54; Lion King, track 7 on Disney Hits; Puff the Magic Dragon, track 12 on Peter, Paul and Mommy - the threesome's current favorites).

Remember what it was like before?

Not wishing to date myself too much... My first stereo was a hand-me-down from my parents. It must have been the height of technology in 1950 - an all-in-one cabinet on spindly legs, with speaker-doors that opened out for that full 3-foot stereo effect. It had a record player that folded down, and a special attachment for 45 rpm records. I found out that a quarter balanced on the needle arm would cause it to repeat the record over and over (and over and over) again.

Of course my cousins had the portable version - the record player that folded into a tiny plastic suitcase. I guess we didn't think much about sound quality back then... The coolest thing of all was that if we jumped really hard on the floor next to the player, we could make the needle jump back to the beginning of the record.

I get the occasional e-mail about the changes in my lifetime. It is amazing to me that my children will probably never see a rotary dial phone, a vinyl record or an 8-track tape. They will never know life without computers, answering machines, mobile phones or portable music players. When I watch Annika dancing around the room with the remote control, replaying her song again and again with a simple push of a botton, I wonder what changes are in store for her.