The Modern Mixtape

A road trip can test even the best relationship.

I have to admit I was nervous about driving across the state with just my teenage daughter. I mean, I wasn’t sure what I was going to get. With teenage girls you just don’t know who is going to show up each day. There are mood swings and attitude adjustments that often accompany the sweet exterior. 

The opportunity to head out east to visit friends came up so suddenly that I didn’t have time to think about what it meant. It was supposed to be a family of 5 trip but even early on my daughter suggested, “Hey, let’s go, just the two of us!”

“Oh, no,” I said. “We can’t do that. We’re all going.” This was not because I didn’t want to travel with my daughter but the sheer decadence of traveling, just the two of us, I couldn’t quite justify.

But then as details were becoming clearer, the boys started dropping like flies. My husband had to work. My oldest had to work. My youngest had a baseball game. I wanted to find another weekend so we all could make the journey to the Philadelphia area but with everything the kids have going on, it became evident that probably wouldn’t happen any time soon.

I realized it was a do or die chance and we ran with it. 

It would be a whirlwind trip, leave late Friday and return early Sunday. There was a lot of driving to do and to be honest after the busy week I had, I wasn’t sure if I was up for five hours on the Turnpike, in the rain.

But we packed up the van, waved goodbye, said a prayer and we were off. 

I needed time to ease into the trip so I told her to hold off on the playlist she created for us to listen to. We got a later start than I had planned which made me a little nervous but once we got to the Somerset area, I was feeling more relaxed. 

For years my daughter and I have been in opposite music camps. She is a country girl and me, well, I’m either stuck in the 60s or in an alternative 90s world. When she asked if she could put together some tunes for us to listen to, I wasn’t sure what I was going to get but she did say she would keep me in mind. That would prove to be an understatement. 

The country music she chose were songs I played when I worked overnights at a station in Virginia Beach in the late 90s. There was plenty of alternative music and even some great 60s tunes. I asked her, “Where is your music? This seems to be all my stuff.”

She explained that the world of Tik Tok, which I am only slightly familiar with, has helped broaden her music horizons. I remember a few months ago, she played a song for me she had just heard in a Tik Tok video that she really liked. It was by The Smiths, an English rock band from the 80s. I was shocked. She genuinely seemed to like the unique vocal stylings of the band’s lead singer and it took me back to when I was her age and had been turned on to the same band and the same songs. 

On the road, it was fun to have a song end and anticipate what was coming next. It appears our taste in music is more similar than I realized and it really made the drive just fly by.

As we got closer to our destination the weather took a turn for the worst. By this time, it was dark, the rain was no longer just moderate and there was a lot of road construction. That is when she switched to the soundtrack of the musical Hamilton. “I think we need this now,” she said. I couldn’t have agreed more. I was not throwing away my shot at completing our voyage.

Music has been such an important part of my life since my earliest days. It is so fulfilling to share this love with my children and experience what they appreciate and how I subtly played a role in shaping their musical palette.

After listening to her playlist, I did feel a little guilty that she left off a genre really important to her right now - K Pop, which is Korean popular music. She knows I am not a big fan but there are a few songs I can tolerate. So, from Breezewood to Irwin, with an hour and a half left, it was all Korean radio. But honestly, it wasn't that bad. It gave her a chance to try to win me over to the BTS (her favorite K-pop band) club. She even tried comparing them to the Beatles!!

Do I understand my daughter’s Korean music fascination? No. 

But maybe that will be something her daughter will figure out.