I’m running out of space on my iPod. Granted, I have the smallest size possible (2 GB), but it’s still astonishing that I’ve filled it with almost 500 songs.

These songs cover the gamut of tunes I loved as a kid to songs my kids love now. I’m debating buying an iPod with more capacity. I know I could delete some of the songs that I currently have to make room, but so many of these 500 songs have a story, a history.

One day, a few years ago for example, I was walking somewhere with my daughter, and must have been in a hurry. She asked me not to walk so fast. I immediately began singing a song I’d heard when I was young, “Daddy, Don’t You Walk So Fast.” She, of course, wanted to know what it was, and I told her the story of the song, sung by Daniel Boone. (No, not the frontiersman, the UK singer from the ‘70s)

Or, how when Lionel Richie (that’s Nicole Richie’s father, for you young’uns) sings “Jesus Is Love,” I remember sitting in front of my high school with my father, right before the bell rang. A local D.J. began playing that song the same time every day to bring attention to the then-unsolved Atlanta child murders. When I think back on that song, I have bittersweet memories: time spent with my dad, regretting not having more time with him, juxtaposed with the unsettling knowledge that a serial killer was loose, albeit hundreds of miles away.

When I look at my iTunes library, I see that over time I’ve collected songs that my parents liked, finding that I like them too. Billy Eckstein, Etta James, Gladys Knight and Bill Withers have made their way onto my iPod. Even Chaka Khan, who at one time was my sister’s favorite singer –and who I absolutely hated as my sister blasted her music nonstop-- makes an appearance.

When I’m in the van with the kids, whoever is sitting up front likes to control my iPod, which is connected to my stereo speakers. Sometimes, my kids are surprised by my music. “You have ‘We are the World?’” one son asked me. Oh, child, I thought. You’re so two thousand and late. You didn’t just discover it. It’s been around. Just Rapper’s Delight and Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.”

I recently introduced them to Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend.” In case you haven’t seen it most recently on a Heineken commercial, let’s just say it’s the lack of singing quality that makes this song fun to sing along on.

Interestingly enough, the musical exchange goes both ways. “High School Musical” (1 and 2, but not 3) has adequate representation on my iPod. Hey--“I Don’t Dance” has a great beat for an elliptical machine workout.

My older kids have even infused a little hip hop in my playlist. When my son played Flo Rida’s “Rewind,” I wanted to download that too. I’m not too sure about this T.I. fellow, but I kind of like his “Dead and Gone.” Enough to ignore that little federal weapons charge he had.

But if I shunned him, I’d have to remove ¾ of my artists because of their various offenses, including Ray Charles, Chris Brown, Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers, Paul McCartney, Phyllis Hyman—you get the idea.

Of course, if I did that, I wouldn’t have to buy a bigger iPod.

Pamela appears Tuesdays on TriangleMom2Mom. Read more about Pamela on her blog Crazy is My Life.