Spring Fever
When it hits you, it hits you, whether you like it or not. I like to call it Spring Fever, but you can call it whatever you want.

I don’t know if it was because it was the last few days of my oh-too-quick spring break, or if it was just because the sun had finally come out after too many drab and dreary days, but I got the fever… bad. It was as if walking outside, catching a whiff of fresh air and seeing the sun, made me become a different person. And I got that feeling of needing to do something, even though I wasn’t really sure what you should do. I just knew that whatever I did, it needed to be something big! Suddenly, I had the craving to drive. No time, no place to go but Kroger, but I was ready… ready to drive.
I hopped in my white SUV, popped on my magnetic sunglasses, rolled down my window, turned up the tunes, and drove like there was no tomorrow. OK, so it was less than 5 miles, but I was driving!
All of a sudden, I became the blonde chick in the yellow car in American Graffiti.
I am sure, to a passerby, I looked just like some thirty-something soccer mom, but in my mind, I was back in my twenties… (maybe 25… old enough to drink, young enough to not creak when I get up from a chair) and driving a red, maybe yellow, convertible. I had long blond hair that would flow in the wind and I was cool. So cool. Pat Green and I were jamming as I drove, in my imagination, through the hill country, through the bluebonnets, over the back roads, into spring.
“Seems like you need a little hill country, a little back roads driving, a little bit of that old top down.”
I was singing like an American Idol contestant… well at least one from the top 5.
It was grand. And then I pulled into the Kroger parking lot. And for a second, I faced reality and the dream had faded slightly. I was back to being a suburbanite in my SUV with music too loud, and people staring at me like I was crazy. But in my mind, it was still Spring and I was still fabulous, maybe just a little less now that I know people were watching me. I practically skipped into the grocery store, gave money to a man in uniform, (ok, so he was just a boy scout selling candy bars but work with me here… I am dreaming) and smiled down every row, thinking about what was awaiting me when I finished my chores. Another ride down the hilly countryside… Just me, my long flowing, curly hair, and spring, driving, smiling, and looking fabulous!

The Pursuit of Cool

To steal words of Chuck Sigars from The World According to Chuck, “I love, love, love my memory key”. I love that I can I carry super secret information on my key chain. I love that no matter where I am, I can whip out my handy dandy thumb drive, put it into any USB port in a computer anywhere, and show off photo’s from B’s birthday. I think the best thing is the look on people’s faces when I pull it off of my key chain. Makes them think that for one fleeting moment, I am the coolest person they have ever met.

It’s not that I crave cool or anything. Isn’t that what makes someone cool… the fact that they don’t care if they are or not?
As a matter of fact, I considered myself to have a semi-coolness about me. I am hip on the Nick and Jessica’s spoiled antics. I love the Fab Five and their slobby straight man makeovers. I can argue the pros and cons of Lucas and Payton finally getting together. I had heard rumblings of a breakup before Tom and Penelope actually announced to the world. I was clued in. I like to call that “pre-cool”. I listen to the White Stripes and Fountains of Wayne. I’ve got it going on you might say, or so I thought.
And then one day, you flip the channel after watching a When Harry Met Sally for the 100th time, and you find that thing called TRL and you realize you have no chance in the race to be cool. Might as well just stop trying.
Tattoos are cool. Did you know that?
And putting rings in part of your body besides you ears is “the bomb”. Thongs, both for the feet and the butt are the coolest, even in the winter. Showing the thongs is the key to all happiness, once again, even in the winter. There is an actual show where people spend all kinds of money “pimping” someone’s ride instead of just buying a brand new car. Amazing!!

OK, so I am not as cool as I once thought. I plan to keep by butt and my toes fully covered and I don’t even like earrings, so I can’t see punching holes in any other parts of my body. I will keep my “ride” un-pimped thankyouverymuch.

Maybe I shouldn’t try to compare myself to teenagers. I shouldn’t try to keep up. For goodness sakes, if you think about it, half of the stuff they think is cool now, I used to play with or wear as a kid. Care bears are back. Friendship bracelets? Been there…know how to tie those knots. Tube socks with stripes and short shorts with piping up the sides… not cool when I was ten, not cool now.

I think I’ll just live in my pre-cool world where Stevie Ray Vaughn and Cheryl Crow still make me dance around the house and feel cool. My world, where One Tree Hill and Law and Order can live cohesively. Where, every once in a while, when I pull out my super cool technology to show to the world, I am the Queen of Cool. That is good enough for me.