Magical Music

Music.

Several times this week, music has been an instrument (no pun intended!) to affecting my mood.

For the last twenty-four hours, I was a little grumpy. No real reason, just one of those icky moods, probably hormonally induced irritability that takes over periodically. My hubby was cranky when I got home from work yesterday and that was enough to push me into an entire day of grouchy-driven house cleaning today. While rearranging my teenage daughter's bedroom, I listened to music. Some songs were fun, and brought back lots of memories. I worked all day - her room is spotless, all her laundry washed, folded, and put away (she is at a band competition today and this will be a treat since I do not normally clean her room OR do her laundry), her bird-cage has been cleaned. Additionally, the linen closet has been emptied and refolded, and the bathrooms smell real fresh. And as each area of dirtiness became fresh and clean...songs that accompanied the changes in the house started making changes in my heart.

At the end of the day, my husband and I decided to go out and get something to eat. I was too tired to cook and I had not made it to the grocery store anyway. On the way out, an old Cat Stevens song came on the radio. Something about that song totally changed my mood and I was the young teenage girl who loved that song - again.

How does that happen?

Earlier this week, I had similar experiences. I heard a song that reminded me of my old best friend and I missed her so much that I cried - after all this time. And I heard a song that reminds me of taking my son to college for the first time and all of a sudden, it is 2002 again - in my heart. And tonight...I was 17 when I walked out the door to go to dinner with the man I have been married to for 28 years.

Music. What is it about the sound of notes, rhythm, harmonies, that bring memories to the surface of our souls as if the memory was at that very moment, replaying? It stirs my soul, it grabs my heart, and music invites me to live life at a level that goes deeper than what life would be like if I only had words by which to communicate. Music. As I type this, I am listening to an instrumental...and without words, it still has a story. Amazing. It lives through centuries of time, generations of people. Music...we worship with it. Music...we dance to it. Music...we sing to it. Music...we live through it.

Music.

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