Day 10 - Songs

30 Day Challenge - Day 10:
Songs you listen to when you're bored, happy, sad, mad, hyped ...      

It's interesting that I approach this post with ambivalence - songs?  what songs?  And then I realize how much music has stopped being a part of my life over the last few years.  The thought of that makes my heart hurt.  What ever happened? 

I have boxes full of music CD's I absolutely love.  I used to listen to music all day every day when I was home.  I rarely watched TV.  My favorite thing was to totally clean the house and then place something New Age (I think that's the category for Mannheim Steamroller, Kurt Bestor, etc., isn't it?) as quiet background music.   That was my favorite thing.  I think I did it once.   I could never get the entire house clean, rarely even the living room.  Seems like it would magically dirty itself as soon as I stepped away from it.  But my favorite intention was to have a clean home with quiet, relaxing music playing in the background.


Reality and daydreams have a hard time coming together sometimes.  Kind of like the fireplace I could not wait to get.  The one that gives a cozy scene but at the same time heats the living room so much that Brent buries himself in a back room with a window open in spite of the 15 degree thermometer reading outside.  What happened to all my ideals?  Maybe daydreams are just meant to be kept as daydreams.


I grew up with music.  My father worked at a music store, selling records (just dawned on me some of you may not even know what those are ... wow), selling sheet music, and band instruments.  That was in Twin Falls, Idaho.  He loved working there, where I think he repaired TVs (or maybe he just did that in his spare time out of the shed in the back - not sure.  I was young and my perception was also not in touch with reality).  Anyway what I really do remember was going into the store one day and having him allow me to select a record album all my own.  Back then they had the music from Disney Cartoon Movies available for purchase.  They came in big jackets that had the story in booklet form at the bottom of the jacket, so we could listen to the story and play the music.  I looked them over and looked them over.  I remember the excitement surging under my heart, ready to bubble to the surface.  Really?  One I could call my own????   


Oh, the decisions.  Which one?   Which one?  Finally my hand rested on Bambi.  I had never seen the movie but I could not resist the adorable little fawn.  I remember listening to it the first time while carefully reading the story, and stepping into another world.  I laughed at Thumper's antics and Flower's innocence and cried when Bambi's father died in the fire.  Bambi's story and the music that came with it somehow became part of me.  I can't wait for the next edition (Blu-Ray) to hit the stores this spring.


Wait a minute, that doesn't exactly fit the description of the topic, does it?  Julie Johnson posted a blog one day about her memorable songs - the ones that took her back to a place in her life every time she heard them.  For me it really isn't about the mood I'm in.  Like Julie, it's totally about the song.  A complete change in mood can happen in an instant depending on the music I'm listening to.  An oldie can pop up on the radio and suddenly I'm sixteen again, and totally twitterpated.  There was one song I remember that just haunted me every time I heard it after my first back surgery.  And then I remembered, it was the song that was playing as I received my injection to let me sleep.  There's Brent's and my song "Cherish".  He played it on the piano for me once while we were dating.  (Yes, he could play the piano back then.)  Forever that became, in my heart, our song.  Until I listened to the words one day several years ago and discovered it was about a breakup. 

I went through so many music types growing up and loved just about all of them.  Today I'm into the Romantic classics - give me Ravel's "Bolero", or Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker,  or Dvorjak's "New World Symphony" and I'm happy.  In fact, Dvorjak works for all the moods above for me.  You can play his "Going Home" at my funeral, and I'd be just fine with that.  No words necessary.

Anything Josh Groban, Yani, and even MoTab work for me.  And of course, I love the music from the great musicals.  I love balads.  I love songs that tell a story.  And I love instrumentals.  And it does not matter the mood.

So, why am I not listening to music any more?   This very important part of my life seems put on hold like so many other things.  But it doesn't have to be that way!  I think I'll take Dvorjak to work with me today and strike up an old friendship.  It's about time!