They both make me cry.

I was listening to the Michael Feinstein NPR radio show after taking my shower last night, something that's just on every Sunday night from 9-10 pm and I always happen to catch.  He interviews a singer or singer/songwriter(s) and plays recordings of their music, and asks the guest to sing a song or two.  They talk about influences, and other singers and writers, and other great songs.  It would be very interesting and I'd have no complaints about it, execpt for the really annoying part of the show: Michael Feinstein has to perform at least one song with them.  I'm not listening to know more about HIM or listen to him pompously sing and play along.  He also very simpering, and seems to always have a story to tell the guest about some brush with someone they know or knew, making it seem like he runs in so many musical circles that there is no one he doesn't have a connection to.  Can you tell he annoys me a little?

But I digress with my rant.  Tonight he had as guests Noel (Paul) Stookey and Peter Yarrow, the surviving members of Peter, Paul and Mary.  My parents were fans of the folk movement, and had their greatest hits album.  I listened to it alot, and came to love the songs eventually as they performed them.  I also explored the originals of the great covers they did that had become hits.  This interview was wonderful, with both men performing quite a bit more than the average guests.  For some reason it didn't annoy me near as much this time when Feinstein sang along with them - I was a bit sad to not hear Mary's beautiful clear voice rising above the men's, and it helped to sooth that sadness to hear another voice singing along.

I had a realization when I was thinking about those songs.  I loved Puff, the Magic Dragon as a kid.  But as I got older, the song made me so sad that I really didn't like listening to it anymore.  I began to skip it when I listened to the CD I finally bought of the album my parents had.  There is something so sad about thinking about kids growing up and not playing with their toys anymore.  And this was even before I had children!  Then I thought about Toy Story, and how those movies have affected me over the years.  It's really the same concept, isn't it?  Now that I have kids of my own, I really can't even think about words to the song anymore.  I also have trouble watching the very end of Toy Story 3, when Andy plays with his toys as a college-bound teenager one last time.  I'm starting to sob just thinking about it.

It made me wonder if the screenwriters for the movie were influenced at all by that song.  I couldn't find anything online about a connection, but I can't help but think there may be one somehow.  The emotions that they stir are just too similar for it to be a coincidence. The lesson that both teach very well is to take time to enjoy your kids while they're little.  Try to soak up as many minutes as you can, because the minutes turn into hours, days, weeks, months so quickly.  Gabriel is losing his little-ness already.  The boy will be a teenager before we know it.  Jojo still has some being little time.  He still speaks with his cute baby talk and cuddles up with us all the time.  So many things fall by the wayside these days - housework, exercise, down time.  But those things just aren't as important as one day looking back and realizing I did all I could to soak up this time.