There are two moments in my life that I remember very clearly for a
specific reason. The first was the death of the wife of the man who owned the
little grocery store near our house. I had known them all of my life (maybe 10 years
by that time). We were coming home from Mass that day and as we passed the store we
could see a black wreath on the door and we knew that one of them had died. So
clearly I heard a loud ominous musical chord in my head that was so real I was surprised
there wasn't an orchestra in the car with me.
The second moment took place at Peach's house when we were visiting,
I had to have been early teens at the time. We knew that my Aunt Marge was
pregnant and I can still see her standing at the ironing board, cigarette hanging out of
her mouth as she announced that she had lost the baby. Again, a musical chord
sounded in my head.
Think how interesting our lives would be if we had a soundtrack
playing everywhere we went (our lives would either be interesting or they would haul us
away to the loony bin!)
Imagine how dull the battle scenes in Braveheart would have
been without music, or the battle scenes in Star Wars. How would Dorothy
have gotten from Munchkin Land to Oz without Follow the Yellow Brick Road?
Would we still cry if Love Story or Steel Magnolias
had no music? And would we tense up as effectively during any scary movie or TV show
without eerie music to set the scene for us?
I want to have music to give me a clue what to expect...or to help
enhance the mood while I'm experiencing it. I want John Williams moments in my life.
I want something so wonderful that my emotions will be lifted by the wonderful
swelling melodies.
I want Jeri to write quirky, bouncy tunes (which she has already
done--but I want more) to accompany my watching the antics of the dogs as they chase each
other around the house.
I want country music when I'm sad. I want to know that other
people are enduring trucks that break down and dogs that die and lovers that leave and
crops that fail...and yet they survive.
My time in the bookstore has its own soundtrack already, as there is
usually classical music from a local FM station playing softly in the background.
I want to drive down the highway with the music of Sideways
accompanying me as I make my roadtrip, whether it is short or long, and when one of those
big semis pulls up along side me, I want ominous chords to warn me if I should be worried
or not.
When hundreds of crows come home from the fields each night and
settle into the trees around our house, I want to hear either Alfred Hitchcock soundtracks
or National Geographic soundtracks playing so I know whether it's safe to go pick up the
paper in the driveway or not.
Unfortunately, most of my life is so plain vanilla that if it were
possible to have a music of your life soundtrack, it would probably be elevator music.
And I'd hate that.
What music would I choose for "life is good right now"? Our TV is back and running without a problem, the 49ers just defeated the Packers for the first time in Green Bay since 1990, and we have a working microwave again.
Ned and Marta came yesterday and worked with Walt at getting the microwave put in.
Given how long they had to hold the oven up while Walt went to get
various tools and try to screw in the screws at the top, I am SO glad that I asked Ned to
come and help. I remember when I was several months pregnant with Ned. We had
bought a new refrigerator and Walt had to put something in on the bottom of it. He
tipped the fridge over to have me hold up and said "Here hold this; I'll be right
back." I think I must have balanced the weight of the fridge on Ned's head.
But I think my days of holding up a heavy machine while Walt does whatever he needs
to do are behind me. And those machine cost too much to give in to my pride and
chance it!
So thanks, Ned and Marta. You get gold stars in your crowns
this weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment