Just so cool.

I received the package on a Thursday. Bill didn’t open it, waiting for me to come home from work to rip open the padded package revealing a Steely Dan t-shirt and “Eminent Hipsters” by Donald Fagen. I entered the contest on Facebook, an unusual way to do so, but hey, I won!

Bill promptly took the t-shirt. “Hey, I really like this.” That’s fine, I thought. I had the book which is what I wanted anyway. Bill just watches TV and listens to music. He was the one who listened to Steely Dan anyway. You can’t fight over what you don’t share.

So here I am reading the book with my feet curled up on the sofa. "Eminent Hipsters" isn’t a biography, but rather Donald Fagen writes about musical influences in his life, musings per say. The stories are not contiguous, but rather jump around a bit, much like the swing and jazz music that Mr. Fagen is so passionate about. “Hey, dear, did you know that Steely Dan was influenced by Jazz?” I ask my husband. “Yes, of course.” He replies. He doesn’t even glance at me, like I don't deserve eye contact because everyone who listened to Steely Dan would know this. Duh.

I listen to the melody of a song. Bill can’t carry a tune but remembers the words of every song he cares about. So it’s useless for him to sing a tune for me to remember what the music sounds like. “You hear the music all the time.” He tells me.

It isn’t until we get into the sedan and he puts the car in drive that I realize I do know this music. The CD is already playing, convenient as it was never removed from the last time we were in the car. “You know there is a line about a Steely Day t-shirt.” He tells me. “You’re kidding!” I reply. So here we are driving around the long route, listening to Steely Dan, Bill singing off-tune and me humming along with the melody. Eminent Replace-Hip-sters.