Sixty Trips Around the Sun:
Notes From A Life Well Lived.
I showed up in 1966, the Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel was number one the day I was born in the year of the Horse and the moon landing was on the horizon. Childhood was Sesame Street, school lunches, and learning how the world worked, vinyl spinning in the background.
’76 to ’86 was adolescence: Aqua Net bangs, Swisher Sweets, Miller Ki11ers, and the Rumors album became my soundtrack. Walkmans and MTV changing music forever. Prince and Glam/Hair Metal ruled the radio while I learned that growing up means experimenting, messing up, and somehow still making it home by curfew(most of the time!).
From ’86 to ’96, college faded in the rearview and Chicago became home. I followed the Dead and found U2. I taught kindergarten by day, cocktail waitressed by night, met a guy, got married, and welcomed my first baby as the world shifted from landlines to dial-up.
’96 to ’06 was all babies, teaching, minivans, and birthday parties, with Barney and Disney tunes as the soundtrack of family life. Love multiplied even when energy(and coffee) didn’t.
’06 to ’16 was a decade of becoming. The housing bubble burst, iPhones arrived, Gaga pushed the edges, Adele nailed heartbreak, and I quietly dismantled then began to rebuild a life. Freedom took time, strength, and came with new adventures
’16 to ’26 has been all about reinvention. New jobs, new keys, new losses, new joys. I buried both parents, said goodbye to friends, advocated for causes I care about, Everybody suddenly had eras, playlists replaced CDs, and I kept showing up for the music — back to live music, Dead shows, Stevie Nicks, and connecting at concerts with my kids. All while I began to figure out who I am on my own.
If there’s one lesson after 60 years, it’s this: every decade has its own rhythm. The music shifts and the beat changes, but the soundtrack connects it all. It’s the thing that bridges eras and generations, stitching the story together while the world keeps moving forward. Freedom takes courage, joy takes intention, and peace is worth protecting.
Here’s to 60 years behind me—it’s been a long strange trip. “Time makes you bolder… and I’m gettin’ older too.” The music keeps evolving, and so do I. Here’s to all the wild, beautiful, ordinary, extraordinary days ahead.
Kristine Binder 