Thursday, April 05, 2007

Soundtracks

Music is an integral part of my life...
If I didn't love it my hubby would make it so...
He loves it as much as I, perhaps more...or perhaps differently...
He is the one who buys CDs, and brings them home....breaking them out for relaxation, for dinner, but often for special occasions...so that whenever I hear a track from one of those CDs I am instantly transported to the time and place where we grew to love that particular one....for example....
Years ago we lived in Philadelphia....we decided that the winters were just too incredibly long for our Southern blood...sooo we planned a beach party for our church...in February...its amazing what a feeling of summer you can create with beach chairs and towels, picnic foods, tanning lotion (for the scent:)) and of course The Beach Boys playing in the background...I can never hear them without thinking of that night...we turned the heat up to 90...wore shorts and flipflops...all my plants upstairs died from the heat...LOL ..but man was it fun!

Then there was our second trip to Europe...we spent several days in London... he had just bought me the Frank Sinatra Duets collection....I cannot hear "Foggy London Town" or any of the other Sinatra classics, without remembering that trip....our hotel, the pink tulips my hubby bought me off the street corner...the sights and sounds of Belgium, France and Germany....incredible!..and all set to the tunes of Old Blue Eyes...

There was the first year we moved to NC...a very lonely painful time...when this CD by Point of Grace, presented to me for my birthday, saved my life and my sanity....songs like Keep the Candle Burning, Gone Are the Dark Days, Any Road Any Cost...gave me the strength and courage to go on...
There are so many others.... Salty and Trout Fishing in America when the kids were younger, Christina and Britney, The Toasters, and John Legend as they grew....CDs we've taken on anniversary trips like the romantic Julio Iglesias, or the folk music of Nickel Creek and their Why Should the Fire Die...or perhaps our Miami trip, choreographed to the Latin influenced jazz of Ocean Drive....just hearing one cut causes me to taste salty air and hear the waves crashing...
Rod Stewart's Great American Songbook set the tone for my daughter's wedding, that along with Garth Brooks' Friends in Low Places...:) and Van Morrison's Bright Side of the Road smells like sunshine and the Natchez Trace to me.

Several years ago we were privileged to be a part of an amazing undertaking by a church we were involved with...we re-created several scenes from the Broadway musical, Les Miserables, as a tribute to a dear minister friend who loved the play. In honor of his 50 years in ministry...we adapted pieces of the story, setting, and sounds to relate the story of the church and the workers and saints who fight for Her existence.....it was one of the most spiritual and moving things I have ever been a part of. Needless to say...we lived with the Les Miserables soundtrack for months...it still has a profound effect on me to hear a track from this masterpiece.

Sometimes it seems as if my entire life is set to music....which could explain the "singing hopscotch", right?? :)
There is a soundtrack playing in my head which provides an appropriate backdrop for what ever the situation....

My spirit is also set to a soundtrack.... the Creator of music resides in me...the Song of the Redeemed is His gift to me...as I sing it or hear it sung I am transported to His realm...His home...my true home...my spirit knows and remembers from whence I have been born...and though my mind wanders and my flesh forgets...my spirit never does...one strain of His melody brings me back to who I truly am and to where I really live.....In Christ....

Lord, remind me....sing your song in me...

14 comments:

BekABoo said...

That love of music is definitly something you've passed on to all of your kids! I can hardly hear a sentence without it triggering a song. Les Mis soundtrack still brings tears to my eyes. BTW--along those lines--SUPER excited for the Lion King! Wish you could go!!!

Admin said...

I'm with you. Music is truly a wonderful gift from God.

Thanks for sharing this wonderful post...life lived to music is a life worth living! :-)

Pat said...

Music is key to many memories in my life also. Everything thing from the songs I remember as a child to the song "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" sung at my dads funeral. Most all music is a comfort to me and I can't imagine my life without the music playing. I love the old Motown music, some old hymns, contemporary Christian, some country, and Bob Seger can still make me want to dance to that Old Time Rock and Roll, but I have to say that a good old gospel choir will move me to my very soul!

Arlene - BY HIS STRIPES!!! said...

We are a musical family. My husband plays the keys, my daughter and son-in-law sing and I support them. You are right, you can hear music and it will take you where you were at the time you first heard it. I'm with Pat, I love the gospel choirs. They are usually so upbeat. I love Contemporary Christian and I love the Old Hymns. It just depends..but you are so right about never forgetting your roots and knowing that God created you for worship and music. What an awesome thing. Two years ago when they first diagnosed me with colon cancer, my husband worked midnights and I would sit up almost all night listening to a couple of songs by the Crabb Family and it got me through a really tough time.

Amydeanne said...

what a wonderful post, and how true. Thanks for posting some of yoru favorites.. "keep the candle burning" has been one of my fav's for years as well!
Happy Easter!

Anonymous said...

i love this post ... transported me through your life with you :)

amazing how music and scents affect us . . . i love that :)

dille2@cableone.net said...

FABulous post about music - Music has beenwith me thru thick and thin. When life was scary and when it was good. I love even the not so good memories - those songs that got me thru and kept me hanging on until I could see again.
Bridge Over Troubled Waters - meant suicide to me as a troubled teen and as a grown girl, I see it as Christ Himself. That is one of my greatest treasure - taking Something awful and trading it for good. Great post, thank you, my friend...

Deborah Fantasia said...

Oh I absolutely LOVE music !! I don't think there's a type of music I don't like (well I'm not big on rap:)
Just to feel music as if it's flowing through your body is just awesome !
How quickly a song transports you to different memories for sure !!
Deborah

amberdusk said...

Cheryl- I'm sure I've said this a million times but I love your blogs.
I can't even tell you how special music is to me as well. Sends me right over the emotional edge all the time :)
I'm with you on Les Miserables too. A-MAZING play. One of those moments where the music made me cry.

SuburbanMom said...

Thank you for that post. I really wish we had more music in our lives. My fault probably. Though charlie is about to start violin lesson which will be nice.

Oh, and you know what I love? Listening to Billy Holiday in summer afternoons.

KayMac said...

so true...music...powerful!

Tammy said...

Music is such a HUGE part of my life as well...hubby doesn't quite understand it, but I'm so glad that my dad brought me up around music...I couldn't imagine life without it.

Portrait of Peter said...

Music is my soulmate too!!

A great selection you have shared and your post a joy to read.

Have a wonderful Easter.

Anonymous said...

happy easter, cheryl. (((HUGS)))