I was inspired today to write about my deep connection to music. This connection has existed since I was little, a common thread with my parents, with my friends, my husband, my kids. A common thread that has gotten me through the toughest of times. I am not alone in this connection. Most people I am close to have the same visceral response to music and the role it plays in their lives.
I can’t get through my day without music, in some form. It relieves my stress, keeps me grounded and provides me with sense of nostalgia that makes me feel all at once, young and old. Crazy. My inability to NOT dance when certain songs come on or sing along to is legendary. The running joke around my house – whenever KC and Sunshine Band comes on, I have to dance, if only with my head.
There are all sorts of tunes loaded on my iPod, from Alan Jackson to Weezer. I love just about every genre of music and my mood dictates the music.
For your consideration, Exhibit A: I am stressed due to too many meetings or too many commitments- R & B, Funk or Disco. Nothing quite like a little Earth, Wind and Fire, Marvin Gaye, or Lakeside to take you out of your head. Exhibit B: I am blue because I miss my kids (grown now with their own commitments) – the Aladdin soundtrack, Paul Simon, Sam Cooke, Tom Petty, Foo Fighters or Pink Floyd. These are things we listened to in the car, back and forth to Football and Choir practice. Exhibit C: I am feeling my age, seems like everyone is younger than me- any 80’s track. Throw me some Phil Collins, Duran Duran or the Cars and I will perk right up. You get the picture.
I would be remiss if I didn’t add a reminder that we have a fantastic collection of cd’s to check out at the library, which includes all of these artists and more. So, in a way, the library is adding to my compulsion to listen to music.
In case you are still wondering why music is so important, I offer one last memory: Try and recall your days as a kid, 13 and awkward. Maybe at the middle school dance or in my case, at the local roller skating establishment. You are hoping against all things that tonight would be the night you could finally skate the couple’s skate (queue the DJ- “Couple’s skate, couple’s skate only”) and not sit on the carpet-covered benches near the waxed and lit floor. In my case it was a Peaches and Herb song, but the exhilaration of finally being “reunited”, if only for one song, is priceless. Music keeps me young, if only in my heart and mind.
-Kashawna W.