Why the heck is this song stuck in my head?

And you know I don't actually know all the lyrics, and probably never did, so I'm singing some sort of other nonsense words to make up for the parts I don't know.

I'm not the hugest Olivia Newton-John fan, but I do recall bringing the Totally Hot album for show and tell when I was 6 years old. My teacher played the title track, and I sat solemnly while I waited for the scratchy playback on our classroom record player to finish. There was no dancing that I recall, which is disappointing. I would like to have a memory of busting out into crazy dance moves and amazing my friends.

Really, in the giant casaba melon that I call my head, there are very few memories that are sharp from that year. It isn't that first grade was not very memorable - just that the memories are like isolated snapshots. I remember faces and names, but not necessarily together. I remember certain events, and some day-to-day stuff, but not in a linear fashion.

It makes me wonder what memories my own children will have 30 years from now, when they look back at these days. Will my son remember that his 4th grade "Me Bag" was decorated with dinosaurs? Will my 5th grader daughter remember that this was the year she insisted on bringing a bento-style lunch box, and using chopsticks whether they were called for or not? Will my 1st grade daughter recall that regardless of the weather, she insists on wearing her pink puffy jacket to school?

I'm sure those little things will be swept away, while other details that seem insignificant to me will be forever embedded in their little noggins. That's kind of cool. Plus, you know, I've got ye olde blog to wield as proof of past cutenesses (and misdeeds.)

This past weekend, we had to rake up all the leaves in the front yard. Our area is under drought conditions, so we're not supposed to water our lawns. The poor trees are already shedding their leaves in protest. My allergies sent me into a sneezing, wheezing fit, but not before I got some pictures of the rest of the family doing their best to get every last spore into the air.

Sigh.

Ugh.

Ah-choo!