It’s such a seemingly innocuous medium that many of us take for granted. Yet, when it’s coupled with our already powerful emotions, it can instantly transport us to the top of the highest peak, or the bottom of the deepest crevasse.
When I was a child, music was my only outlet for coping with the challenge of my life. It was also the only thing that kept me in touch, and connected, to the real world.
My parents had removed me from school at the end of sixth grade. They were aware that they were about to be investigated by Child Protective Services and in response to this news, my father uprooted our family and we started our “new” life.
This “new” life now meant that I lived, in a small, red, dome tent, in the woods, in the absolute middle of nowhere. I no longer had the luxury of a flush toilet; instead I had a shovel to dig a hole. Showers were no longer a necessity, but when my hair got too greasy I could wash it in a grocery store bathroom sink. Et cetera…
Living this “new” life to the fullest, we crisscrossed the country while we followed the warmer climates. The only normalcy I still had in my life was that the sun still rose in the morning and set every evening. My only friends were the animals found within the lonely areas we always camped in. With that said, it should come as no surprise when I say that animals love me, and in return they hold a special place within my heart. (I have been dubbed “Snow White” by my friends who have observed this rather unique connection.)
Of course, animals can’t verbalize their thoughts aloud so if I wanted to still be part of this big world, I had to find another means to do so. This is where music came in. Five, six, sometimes seven days a week would find me blazing trails in previously untraveled or forgotten locations with my walk-man radio. And boy did it live up to its name…
During this period of my life I lived for music. I knew every word, to every song, in every genre that I listened to. Music got me through those hard and desolate times.
Years later, after I had chosen to leave home at sixteen, I at one point traveled with a mostly unknown uncle to visit my grandmother. I may not have known much about the world around me, but, as he had told my grandmother in awe: “she knows every song on the radio.”
I have brought this love of music forward in my life. I understand the miracle that it is. It brings us joy. It brings us happiness. It relates to us when we are heartbroken. It energizes us when we are exhausted. It reminds us of days gone by. And some day, in the future, it will remind our children, and their children, of us.
And even as we age, so does the music age with us. As we get older, and theoretically wiser, we may also uncover different insights that we hadn’t previously perceived in our favorite songs. The messages evolve as we do.
And with absolute certainty I know that music is like the air to me. I cannot live without it…