She Wants an iPod

This family is filled with music nuts. The husband plays in a band and listens to music every day. He and his mother relax by sitting at the piano and playing by ear. Both children have a fascination with music -- they're constantly introducing us to new groups or discovering musical interpretations that we've known for years. They both attend lots of concerts. Now the daughter lives in Austin, one of the music capitals of the country.

Thanks to the family, I own an iPod. Big Daddy, the daughter and the baby all have their own. I am not very skilled with programming it but I do listen to it every day. My favorite times are in the car or plopping it in my speaker system and taking it out on the patio. I have sole possession of the remote control.

Now the mother-in-law wants an iPod. She is not subtle. Every time she sees me headed to the patio with my little speaker system (remote control in hand,) she announces, "I want one of those." When she's in my car and I plug it in, she says, "I want one of those."

She did it again last night. I wanted to scream, "Then go buy one!" But I didn't. The husband said, "Maybe you should write a note to Santa." (That caused a little mini-stroke because I'm slapped with the knowledge that another holiday season is approaching and we will have passed the two year mark.)

We get a million catalogs. One of them is old music on CDs. For Christmas last year, I bought her every single one she had circled. Between what she already owned and the additions to her collection, she's built up quite a music library.

So, the husband said, "Even if you get an iPod, someone has to program it."

Suddenly, all eyes were on me.