Day 160: Your favorite song beginning with “H”.

“Heat Of The Moment” – Asia

“Heat Of The Moment” is one of those songs that instantly takes me to a place and time. The time is summer 1982, a time when the summers seemed much longer and much hotter than today. (That probably has something to do with central air conditioning.)

And while I remember the song being everywhere that spring and summer, the specific place that it takes me to is the back of St. Thomas the Apostle school. (Yes, that was year 5 of the twelve I did in Catholic school. I emerged surprisingly unscathed and—perhaps more surprisingly given recent headlines—unmolested.)

Toward the end of every school year we had “Field Day.” The name was a misnomer in that it was actually more than one day and the area where it was held was more of a large, oddly-shaped empty area behind the school rather than an actual field.

But it’s what we had.

Field Day revolved around track and field events:

• 40 Yard Dash
• Relays
• Other track & field-oriented events to remind those of us who were not particularly… uh… in shape… just how inadequate we were.

(But it was okay, there were also events for those of us who were never going to get a “real” ribbon, like the three-legged race, sack race and so on.)

Despite this, everyone looked forward to Field Day, and it had little to do with the events. Being a Catholic school it was also one of the few times of the year where we were able to express ourselves. We could wear what we wanted (at the time this typically consisted of t-shirt, shorts, and tube socks up to your knees). There were unstructured activities. And there was soda! Yes, during this small window of freedom and fresh air the nuns deigned to allow soda—sold out of their garage and at a profit.

Perhaps most important of all, we were allowed to bring boom boxes. You remember boom boxes, right? Those monstrous purveyors of involuntary music consumption of the 80s? The devices solely responsible for deafness (only in one ear) and scoliosis for an entire generation? Yep. On these few glorious days we  could bring them. A rare privilege of broadcasting our musical preferences. And bring them we did.

You could walk 100 feet and easily hear fifteen to twenty different things.

For example:

• John Cougar (before he became Mellencamp or even the interim John “Cougar” Mellencamp)
• Joan Jett
• Rick Springfield
• Someone cursing because the 42 “D” batteries they put into their boom box before school were already dead at 10 AM

And “Heat Of The Moment.”

I heard it so often that the very sound of it (and its sibling “Only Time Will Tell”) send me back to those days when getting cheesy ribbons, not wearing something too stupid (tube socks not withstanding) and the chance to play street hockey in the church parking lot during school hours were the biggest things on your mind.

Too bad we have to grow up. Although I still worry about wearing something stupid. Do these tube socks look alright?