The first vehicle I bought with my “own money” was a 1979 Chevrolet Silverado. I was really proud of that truck. In an earlier post, I described Plains National Bank’s president, T.J. Wallace setting up a car loan for me that I was able to sign for with my own signature as an 18 year old kid! The pristine used truck did not have an 8 track player. It had the latest and greatest cassette tape player! I was so proud.

Cassette tapes have long since gone by the wayside. I think I threw away my collection of 8 tracks at some point. I also had a pretty decent collection of albums too. I think they were probably liquidated at a garage sale for ten cents a piece. Consequently it was a walk down memory lane when I bought some old school albums with my 14 year old today at a used bookstore. He recently secured a record player, so he is eager to collect albums to play on it. One of his purchases today was Billy Joel’s Glass Houses album that was released in 1980. (I listened to it on cassette tape in my newly purchased truck.)

Young people that comprise the Millennial Generation continue to intrigue me. They are of course tuned to and in some cases chained to everything that is wireless. Their social lives are controlled by technology that could not have been envisioned in the late 1970’s. But they are also into retro as well.

14 year olds are intrigued by real albums. And they have music from several decades on their i-pods. I really think they are open to different kinds of music and experiences too for that matter. They are willing to try new things in ways that I don’t think my peers would have done three decades ago. There is an openness there that I am fully aware has the potential to be destructive, but it is also really good too.

Who would have thought that I would be listening to the Glass Houses album with my 14 year old son over 30 years after its release? And would have thought he would enjoy listening to Simon and Garfunkel? I think there is a lot we can learn from the Millennial Generation.

This week I am going to purposely listen to music from another era. And perhaps I should be willing to embrace styles from a different time like they are willing to do. (That could be taking it too far…) I think I do need to consider ways that I could be more open to different generations and cultures. I am way too set in my ways. What will I do when that 14 year old leaves home in a few years? I may need to adopt a teenager, so I won’t become hopelessly out of date.