my mom knows the words to 'lithium'

that's right, the nirvana song, 'lithium.'

she hasn't always known the words. this is a new development. i found out on christmas eve. i borrowed my mom's car and noticed that she had a nirvana greatest hits collection cd. so i popped it in the player and left it in there when i was done. later that night my mom was driving me and my girlfriend home with my stepfather in shotgun.

she lets a couple of songs from the nirvana cd play and doesn't say anything relating to the music. at some point my stepfather made a comment about the music playing (my step dad didn't dig the sound). he said something like (if i may paraphrase here), "what is this? blow it out your asshole."

my mom, who has a tendency to be a ball buster, says, 'oh yea?' and turns it up. that's when my attention from the back seat perked up... my stepfather not liking nirvana... totally predictable. my mom defending it and turning it up though, fuckin a! go mom!

my step dad kept complaining. and my mom then says, "what you don't like that? watch i'm gonna sing it now too. i'll put my favorite song on." she then skips tracks till 'lithium' is blaring through the car and my mom starts singing and then my girlfriend starts singing and i just sat there in a state of wonderment, thinking this might be the most christmas'y moment of my holiday season.

my stepfather wasn't pleased but my mom played and sang the whole song! it was a truly awesome moment.

here's the thing.... i fucking love nirvana. one of my top favorites of all time, and when i was a teenager, nirvana was the end all, be all. and when i was a runt of a teen, pissed off at everything for no good reason at all, i went all grunge. and that was it. i'd blast nirvana in my bedroom and there was something about it that just made me feel awesome. and part of that awesomeness was the whole, 'the world don't understand this' attitude.

and i'd never think my mom would get it.

but my mom's cool. she didn't listen to it back then which is probably for the best cuz that's a big part of how i defined myself as a young person. but now that i'm older and over stuff like that (not allowing myself to like what my parents like and vice versa), it's sorta amazing and awesome to me that my mom is the proud owner of a nirvana cd and sings along to it.

rock on mom.