For the Love of Elvis

My ten-year-old daughter is in love. As I write this she is sitting in front of the TV totally entranced by the image before her. Although it's way past noon, she is still wearing her pajamas, her riot of golden curls spinning out in all directions.

It's a beautiful fall day in our small mountain community. The perfect weather for riding a bike, playing football, or just spending some quality time with friends.

The sidewalks and lawns are filled with neighborhood children enjoying the final days of Autumn before Old Man Winter rears his ugly head and they find themselves stuck indoors with nothing to do but play video games for three long months.

However my daughter is completely unaware of her friends playing just outside our living room window. To her, nothing matters except the object of her affection gyrating across the TV screen.

What's so unusual about her behavior you ask? Isn't being enamored by a handsome teen idol a right of passage for most young girls?

Believe it or not I am not so old that I have forgotten my own childhood crushes--Davy Jones and Bobby Sherman--oh, how I loved them. I dreamed of becoming Mrs. Jones every night for three years.

To this day I still have my secret crushes that I keep hidden from the world. I adore Anthony Stewart Head and Tom Keifer. Their pictures adorn every inch of wall space in my office.

So you see, I do understand what she's going through. Honestly, I do. My one and only question is, why couldn't she be like most girls her age and fall head-over-heels for, oh, I dunno...someone alive maybe?

Normal? Not my little girl. She's in love with the King. That's right...Elvis.

Where did I go wrong? While other children are asking Santa for Barbie dolls and video games for Christmas, my child was asking for a $50 coffee table book documenting the life and career of Elvis Presley.

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find an Elvis poster to hang on a bedroom wall, or an Elvis Tee shirt? Forget about it. It's not like they're readily available at your neighborhood five 'n' dime.

On the day this child was born my mother said that she had an old soul, obviously she was right.

They say if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. I'm taking that to heart. So, while I'm popping the kettle corn and my little Elvis fanatic is busy making the hot chocolate. I'll slip into my flannel pjs and done my fuzzy bunny slippers and settle in for a movie marathon with my beloved daughter.

Girls! Girls! Girls!, Jail House Rock and Love Me Tender, Here I come.

If we're lucky we might catch Blue Hawaii to boot!