I have found I can transport myself back in time through music. The funny thing about it is, I can't remember my PIN number for my ATM card but I can sing every single line of Boston's More Than a Feeling. As a kid, music was a large part of my family life. I remember being very little and dancing around my mom's bedroom to Tom Jones. I remember the first time I heard the Flight of the Bumble Bee. It was the coolest thing I had ever heard.

My dad favored country music. He was the original Urban Cowboy. Johnny Cash was one of his favorites. I never really appreciated it until after my dad died, listening to Johnny Cash somehow brought back my dad's memory, clearly. I can listen to Johnny Cash and see my dad sitting on the couch, his brown and amber colored guitar on his lap, his lips pursed as he tried to hit the right chord.

My oldest brother introduced me to Led Zeppelin. He was moving out and he gave me a big box of records. Thirty years later, I still don't know why he would want to give up all those great songs! I also realized through this big box of records, I hated Black Sabbath and I would never give up any of my music.

My oldest sister had a fondness for fifties music. Elvis and Paul Anka were her favorites. I can't see a picture of Elvis or hear Jailhouse Rock without thinking of her. She was really about ten years too late for that kind of music. Her boyfriend, who became her husband, was from that era. I always remember her watching Elvis movies on Sunday afternoon and saying she would find a guy just like Elvis and she did!

My other sister loved disco. Donna Summer blared from her room all through the seventies. Love to love you, baby! She also loved Olivia Newton-John before she got Greased up, when she was the Australian Country Girl.

The brother closest to me in age, loved all those seventies bands: Kansas, Boston, Pink Floyd, Genesis. When he went off to college, I raided his room and took all the albums into my room. Not knowing he'd be home for a weekend, I got busted! That was one of the biggest fights we ever had. And all over music!

My favorite sibling memory is when my sisters taught me, at all of four years old, the words to Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkle. I still know all the words to that and each time I hear I can't help but think of them.

I've tried with my own kids, to introduce them to all kinds of music. Even when they were infants, we had music going all the time. They all went to sleep with soft classical music playing in the background. My oldest had a major fondness for Axel Rose and the song Knockin' on Heaven's Door. She'd stop whatever baby games she was playing when it came on and stand still, just listening. My second daughter always thought The Boxer was about her because her name is Lila. And my little guy has a real love for Johnny Cash, just like his grandfather.

I often wonder if my own children will be blasted back to childhood when they hear the Go-go's or The Knack. I hope so. I really hope so. Because for me, it's a wonderful feeling. I hope I passed it on.

Learn more about this author, Kat Apf.
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