The coolest thing

Hands down, I believe that one of the best parts of being a parent is sharing with your own children the books, songs, and TV shows that you loved as a child. Together the girls and I have sung classics like "On top of Spaghetti" and "The Bear Went Over the Mountain," and read books including "The Cat in the Hat" and "Green Eggs and Ham." I distinctly remember seeing "Charlotte's Web" as a child in Guyana, all years ago, at the drive-in, of course. When I stumbled across the video at a garage sale recently, I couldn't resist buying it to share with my own girls.

I was/am also a big fan of Muppet Show and Sesame Street, actively watching both shows well into my teens. One of the most enjoyable parts of our last visit to Disneyland was going to see the Muppets in 3-D! A dream come true!!! Sadly, this is one love that I've not passed on to Samantha and Megan. For some strange reason, they seem to prefer Barney to Kermit and Dora the Explorer to Miss Piggy. That said, it is so odd that we would have the chance to connect with my old Muppet Show passion in an unexpected way.

Samantha loves to sing, so we enrolled her in a performance group called Sunshine Generation for the summer. They practice once a week and are learning 4 songs which they will perform at the end of the class. At first, I honestly wondered what I'd gotten into when she came home singing the Beach Boys "California Medley" and all we heard was "I've got a 34 wagon and I call it a woody" (a woody?) and "Two girls for every boy!" Good lord.

That aside, I was thrilled to hear that the group will be singing "Just One Person." Such an incredibly moving song!! It took me right back to singing that song along with the muppets on my Muppet Show records. The song wasn't on the Sunshine Generation CD that they are supposed to use for practice so off we went to the internet to search for the music. Imagine my excitement when we found an actual clip of that Muppet Show performance. I also discovered that "Just One Person" was a tribute to Jim Henson who had just passed away.

To hear my daughter's sweet voice singing this song that I've loved forever almost moved me to tears. And maybe, just maybe, this will be the spark that ignites in the girls a passion for all things muppet. We'll see. I would be happy with a tiny interest.