When I listen to Wednesdays...

When I listen to the song "Rock Steady" off the Rock Steady album by No Doubt, I always think of my sister Ashley.  In the years before I became a "grown up" and moved all over the place, Ash and I developed this weird bond where we'd have these little sleepovers in her room every night; we'd scratch each other's backs and time the length of scratching based on the episodes of The Golden Girls which we would watch on Nick at Nite (don't ask me what a then 12 year old girl found hilarious about The Golden Girls, but Ash sure did love that show).

So... back to the song.  No Doubt's Rock Steady album came out December 2001.  At that point I think I'd been a fan of them since I was 12 years old, so needless to say even though the album was being named a sell out album, and critics were claiming that the infamous Gwen Stefani had lost her edge and was now pop, I was ecstatic nonetheless!  To this day, it still is probably my favorite album of theirs.  Anyway I remember the cold December night that I stopped at Best Buy to make my purchase, if I remember correctly I also bought Nirvana's Unplugged album and the Smashing Pumpkins Greatest Hits (what can I say... I was late to that party)!  Anyway, I remember starting the car and fighting with that dang No Doubt cd.  You guys remember that plastic wrap and sticker that came on cd's, right?  At last I managed to free the cd from the case and put it in the dash!  I practically didn't listen to anything else for a year!

I had lost my job that November, but hey this was before America waged war on Iraq and the economy tanked, and I guess since I lived at home... splurging on three albums did not seem like it would make a huge dent in my finances.  But the point of me telling you that I was "unemployed"-- while still being a student mind you, is just to tell you that I was home more than usual.  I remember seeing almost every episode of TRL over that winter break and of course driving around places and dancing in my room and whatnot.  Whenever I hear this song I remember all that, but mostly I remember singing with Ash, "Our love is so rock steady."  And while I know that this isn't some big sister anthem, I always think to myself that's exactly what my relationship with Ash is... it's rock steady.  Any ups or downs that I've had in my life that little girl has been by my side, she's my steady rock.