Yes, I’m wearing argyle socks with suede sneakers from Payless that I bought 7 years ago because that’s how I roll. The other day I commented that I’ve never been smarter, prettier, or cooler. It’s not that I think I’m some sort of genius in a killer body with a gorgeous face. I mean if that’s your opinion of me, I’m flattered, but it’s not what I meant. It’s that I look in the mirror and like what I see. And the part I don’t see. That I’m truly comfortable being me. And this year, I’ve been on a mission to set up better habits. This has become the year of goals.
But the whole thing is realizing I’ve always been cool. We’ve been eating Greek yogurt for nearly a decade. Way before it hit the shelves of Safeway. Everyone on Facebook seems to be into ethnic food. My husband and I have been frequenting Indian, Middle Eastern, and other cuisines our entire marriage. It wasn’t borne as much from being foodies or overly adventurous but because those are the restaurants with two-for-one deals in those giant coupon books. Now we go for ethnic food coupon or not because these are places we don’t have in our small town.
It’s not just eating habits but music, games, and movies. Sirius XM has, at least for the next few weeks, not one but two stations dedicated to my favorite musicians. I’ve been a Parrothead since childhood so Margaritaville has been on my favorites stations from the beginning. I mean I know deep tracks of Jimmy Buffet’s by heart. Ones that aren’t even on Beaches, Boats, Bars, and Ballads. “Come Monday” and “Incommunicado” (both on Ballads) are still my favorites. But so is “This Hotel Room” and “Ringling, Ringling” two songs that remind me way too much of childhood vacations off the beaten path.
Now they’ve added the Billy Joel channel as a limited engagement. I’ve been a fan of The Piano Man since my tweens. In college there was a rather funny incident about my being a Billy Joel fangirl (before there was a word fangirl) and a guy’s failed attempt to ask me out. I blew the guy off and totally forgot about it until two years later I spotted a fake advertisement referring to it. Some mutual friends had turned the episode into a meme (before we actually used the word “meme” or pictures of the Dos Equis guy to make them).
The Goonies, The Princess Bride, and Pretty in Pink were movies I’ve loved since they were released on VHS, way before they became cult classics. Actually, I saw Goonies in the theatre. The Settlers of Catan (which we’ll be playing as a family as soon as I hit schedule) has been one of our favorite games for a decade. That doesn’t exactly make us original settlers or anything since the game was already nearly ten years old before we learned about it.
While I can hardly lay claims to being some sort of hipster, and I never have been the coolest cube in the tray, I like it when things I love become cool and popular. It’s kind of fun.
What are some of the quirky things have like all along that have all of a sudden become “cool”?
Gretchen E K Engel 