Soundtrack of Your Life

Music can be a powerful thing.  It has the ability to change moods, gives us something to relate to and most importantly it plays in the background of the great moments we experience. It’s music that provides us with a soundtrack to our lives.

I have always been a big music junkie and although my tastes have evolved over the years, my love of music has never wavered.  Music has always been able to be there for me.  It gets me through the days when I feel like I'm breaking down, it helps me to deal with feelings and emotions that I constantly need to make sense of, and it has the ability to make me smile for no deeper reason than I enjoy the song. 

Last night I found a bunch of old CD’s and as I went through them, I was reminded of some of the songs I used to love and the various reasons why they were special.  For me, there are definitely songs that will always be able to take me back to a certain time, place, or feeling.  Usher’s “Yeah” will make me think of driving down Beaver Ave in State College in my Jeep with Diana and “Hotel” by Cassidy and “Suga, Suga” by Baby Bash will forever be Ali and T’s Frat Jams.  “It’s You” by Tony Lucca is the song that will take me back to losing my first love and “Stupid Boy” by Keith Urban will always be associated with breaking up with my last boyfriend.  “Come on Over” by Christina Aguilera means the Gamma Phi Beta Crush Party, “Slave 4 U” by Britney Spears will be equated to Sigma Chi Derby Days 2001 and after this weekend “Whip Your Hair” by Willow Smith will constantly make me smile about my GPhiB girls.   “Courage is…” by The Strange Familiar will bring me back to the feelings I had when my aunt died and “Get Low” by Flo Rider will forever be in my heart as the song for my mother (don’t ask!). “Macho Man” by the Village People means dancing around my parents family room with my brother when we were kids , “Children’s Story” by Slick Rick goes back to being in Ole’ Yeller (my ’95 Cream Chevy Lumina) driving to high school with Amy, and “End of the Road” by Boys II Men will put me back on that field trip bus in grade school.  “The Right Stuff” by New Kids of the Block will always make me think of the excitement of my first concert and “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor will remind me of the first song I really remember loving and how because it was on the PSU Songs tape I had, I thought for years it was actually Eye of the Lion (they changed the words, I wasn't crazy).

Regardless of the song, it is music that can speak to us when we need it to.  It can bring us back to hard times, remind us of the fun memories, take us back to the monumental moments we experience or it can simply be there for us when we need to find the exact right words to associate with how we are feeling. Last night I kept trying to come up with a song that would be a theme song for this stage in my life.  Maybe it would be “World Wide Open” by Love & Theft or “Unfold” by Marie Digby.  It could be “I Was Here” by Lady Antebellum, “Born to Fly” by Sara Evans, or “It’s Only Life” by Kate Voegele.  However, the beauty of the soundtrack of your life is that it is made up of songs that take you back so one day when I look back on this time of my life, I’m sure I will have a song that will fit this phase and make me think of all the things I’ve been feeling.  You can't plan the tracks that will make up your soundtrack.  You have to just keep living and allow your soundtrack to come together on it's own. 

Now I know this might not be the most thought provoking or life changing post but I think sometimes it’s nice to take a stroll down memory lane.  I’m sure you have plenty of songs that will take you back to the major moments of you’ve experienced as well.  Enjoy the soundtrack of your life!  The songs included may not be your favorites or the best songs ever written but they will be special in a different way.  They may just give you some of the answers you are looking for or at least allow you to reminisce about the good, the bad and all the other memories in between. It’s “I Don’t Want to Be” by Gavin DeGraw that says “Part of where you’re going, is knowing where your coming from” and as I think of all the songs that remind me of my thoughts, feelings, and experiences, it’s comforting to know that I’ll always remember where I’ve been.

"Music expresses that which cannot be put into works and cannot remain silent" - Victor Hugo