The scene: Trader Joe's
The players:
Me - white female, mid-40s
Checker 1 - white male, early 20s
Checker 2 - white male, early 30s
Bagger 1 - African male, late 20s
Bagger 2 - Intellectually disabled male, mid 20s
Companionable silence as Checker 1 scans my groceries. Hues Corportions "Don't Rock the Boat" plays on the loudspeaker.
Bagger 1 approaches and begins bagging my groceries. He sings along cheerfully
Bagger 1: Our love is like a ship on the waaaateerrr...
Me: Look at you singing along to this 40 year old song!
Bagger 1: You see, my parents loved this kind of American music and it was always on in our house
Bagger 2 joins and begins assisting the bagging
Bagger 2: The old music I like is The Beach Boys
Me: They're good
Bagger 1: My parents liked them as well
Checker 1: My parents did too
I'm feeling a little less old at this point since The Beach Boys are more my parents generation than mine.
Bagger 2: My favorite song of theirs is "Kokomo"
Instantly I feel old again
Checker 1 (sings): ... you take it fast and you take it slow... that's where I want to go...
Bagger 2: John Stamos from the television show "Full House" played drums for the Beach Boys
Me: I knew that! I had a big crush on John Stamos when I was in high school.
Checker 2: Me too!
I appreciate the symmetry, although I know our crushes were formed 15 years apart.
Checker 1: That guy doesn't look as old as he is
Me: I know. If there is a god, he's probably a man
Checker 2: God probably IS John Stamos
The Entire Cast chuckles.
/Scene
And thus, across age, race, nationality, disability, sexual orientation and gender, five strangers share the universal human experience as manifested by the ageless handsome semi-talented drummer we know as John Stamos. It was a moment.
