I was nine years old when we got Mom's white Pontiac 6000 STE.
It had a sunroof, buttons all over the steering wheel, and a tape deck inside of it. I thought it was awesome.
Wherever we were headed, we could loop our DeBarge and Lionel Richie and Billy Ocean tapes over and over again.
Windows down, seat belts tight, music bumpin,' and the MacEachen ladies singing stongly...
​No more looove on the run.​
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We always had a stereo system in the family room too. It was more like a piece of furniture back then, with the record player at the top of the techno-stack.
As a family, we danced together every night. When supper was finished, we would clear the table to the album that was our favorite at that moment.
Jackson 5's greatest hits, Whitney Houston's Whitney Houston, Kool & The Gang's In the Heart...
​Joaaanna, I looove you.​
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My favorites were the records and tapes that had the lyrics to all the songs printed inside the covers. For hours at a time, I would lay on my belly beside the stereo. Head perched on my palms, legs kicking behind me, I would practice the words to every song until I had them memorized.

Then, on Wednesday, November 1st, 1989, Mom and Dad took us to see
Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine at Riverfront Coliseum.
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I had totally mastered all the words to "Conga."
The show was on a school night.
And Mom had taken me to get a new outfit from The Limited for it.*
My first concert and I couldn't even imagine that anyone's parents were cooler than mine.

More than anything, though, on that night,
with Gloria, her Machine, and all of Cincinnati,
it was stamped on my brain that music is a love language.
And music is the love language of our family.
No matter what else is happening, a good beat cranked to ten, singing at the top of our lungs, and busting a flippin' move make everything right with the world.
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Obviously we listened to "Get on Your Feet" the whole way home. In the white Pontiac 6000 STE.
​Get up and make it hap-pen.​
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Music is THE BEST.
LoveLoveLove,

*Black turtleneck with shoulder pads. A purple-and-black vest, with a pin full of charms. High-waisted purple pants that pegged perfectly at the ankle. And lace-up black boots that you could see beautifully because, well, the pants pegged perfectly at the ankle.