The Teenage Rockstar

Dec 28, 2008 by mandeewidrick

When I was really young, back before my homeschoolie days, I loved to hum and sing when all was quiet and I was alone. I recall singing on the playground swingset many times during lunch break in elementary school. I loved my voice so much that I once even claimed to have the beautiful singing voice of some Disney character in one of those sappy princess movies. Memories of those days make me smile and shake my head in amusement. 

As I got older, my taste in music went from Disney soundtracks to something a little more upbeat and trendy. I began to make new friends as I hit the teen years, and with the new friends came a new craze for wild music. It wasn’t anything too bizarre or out of line, but it was definitely different. The sudden change of CDs in my player was enough to make my mom wonder what on earth had possessed me. I tried like heck to pin up my favorite boy-band posters on my bedroom wall, only to have them pulled down by the wicked witch (I say that with affection) at every attempt. I get a big laugh out of it now, but believe me, I hated it then. I was 15 and definitely old enough to have band pictures on my walls. So what if they happened to be cute guys? I didn’t see the problem, but by gosh, my mom surely did. 

Those years passed after numerous struggles finally resulting in a burned CD. No, I don’t mean burned as in, on the computer. I mean, burned IN THE WOODSTOVE kind of burned. Yep, folks, she did it. Threw my root of rebellion right in the fire pit. I didn’t find out until nearly six months later what had happened to my beloved CD; I thought she’d merely confiscated it and planned to give it back when I was a bit older. You can imagine the look on my face when I found out it was gone for good. Ha, yeah. I wasn’t a happy camper.

Now that I’m grown, I of course choose my own selection of music without worrying about where it might end up. I have a small mix of country, indie, and Christian, but nothing too radical. Strangely enough, the CDs I listened to during my teen years were also “Christian.” But understand, it wasn’t really who sang the music, but rather how the music made me feel. The heavy rock and seemingly mainstream lyrics were really too deep for a girl my age to comprehend and interpret into a Godly perspective. I find it interesting how teenagers blow things way out of proportion. EVERYTHING is just a huge deal. Friends, TV, music. When they don’t listen to the wise counsel give, sometimes they just have to live and learn. I thought I was going to be the next teenage rockstar in those years, a shining pop singer like Hannah Montana or Hillary Duff. Well, what do you know, I turned out to be a writer instead. Funny how things work out, eh? I may never be a “rockstar,” but I do have to get a chuckle out of my new haircut (see pic at the beginning of this post). Rockstar, anyone?