I Wanna Rock With You... (All Night).

As a new parent-to-be, you are often chided with clichés about being up at obscene hours only to be slumped cribside at the mercy of an irrational little being. While very on-the-mark, it often assumes that this is an unfortunate and dreaded part of the package deal. I suppose for many it is. For me, this was my nirvana.

 

One of the very best experiences I have had as a mom thus far has to be the twilights spent (most times comatose myself) rocking Barbara to sleep. Still at two-and-a-half, she requests her send-off to dreamland to start in the black and white gingham rocker in the corner. Its actually quite comical these days, now with her legs hanging over the arms of the chair, sprawled across my lap. Even with limbs dangling and swaying, she manages to get cozy and doesn’t even mind my bad karaoke.

 

During her first year, the default song that for unexplained reasons always ran through my head (and came out of my mouth) as I was rocking her was the Temptations’ “Just My Imagination”. I still wonder where that inspiration came from—why that song? Motown was not exactly on heavy rotation in my house when I was growing up. As she’s grown, we’ve progressed into the first verse of “Yellow” by Coldplay. I say only the first verse, because in my delirium, I can’t manage to remember the lyrics too well. In fact, I’m quite sure that I mangle the first two verses together into one, but I’m certain she doesn’t know the difference (my apologies to Chris Martin). The unforgettable chorus, however, is my loveletter to her:

 

“You’re skin, oh yeah you’re skin and bones

Turned into something beautiful.

D’you know? For you I’d bleed myself dry

For you I’d bleed myself dry.

Its true. Look how they shine for you.

Look at the stars…

Look how they shine for you,

And all the things that you do.”