Oh Crap! – Musings of an Unperfect Mommy

Music Monday

February 7, 2011

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blizzard pics for some talk about music. :-)

Many moons ago I started listening to music at night as a way of helping me go to sleep. I had a little portable radio and it was perfect in our London flat. The year we moved back to the states, I asked for a stereo system. Do you remember those? It had a record player, a radio, and (I think) a cassette player. Everything I could want. I had already started collecting 45’s and now my collection was about to really grow. I spent alot of time with that stereo listening to music in my room and daydreaming my days away as only a teenage girl can.

The years went by and I moved out on my own and my stereo and now 300 count singles collection went with me. Whenever I was down, I played my favorite songs to listen to, sing to, cry to. Music has always had a place in my heart since I started listening to it, and even more so now that I was on my own and making my way through the world by myself.

More years went by and I married and then started to have children. Once the kids came along I was too busy to spend time sitting around with my stereo daydreaming and so my music went by the wayside for a few years. Then, one day, a few years down the road, I started listening to the radio again and I started to pull my records out again and listening to them. Well, trying to listen to them. My singles were mostly scratched and dusty and did not play well anymore – if at all. One day I made the decision to put them on the curb because, “I don’t really need them anymore”. Some of the songs only served to remind me of time and relationships gone by and I didn’t want to re-live that anymore. Or so I thought. Not to mention that cd’s had started to arrived – a whole new type of record – so out those singles went. All 300 of them. *sigh*

When I started to listen to music again, I also started to go to vintage record stores to pick up cd’s of albums I once had and started listening to them again. Those cd’s were like little time capsules – could pop one in and go back in time to a place I had long forgotten. It was again soothing to me. I decided to start collecting my favorites again so I’d have them to listen to. Some days I pined away for those singles I put on the curb, but there was no way to get them back. Not yet.

More years go by and technology had bumped up a notch and now there was digital music. It is amazing to me how far all this has come and now we can put hundreds of songs on little tiny players instead of dragging around big boom boxes (raise your hand if you remember those – hehe). One day I decided to check out Napster to see what all the buzz was about and found that I could replace my singles by buying mp3’s of the songs!! And so the collecting started once again not denying my inner self who put all she had into those songs – memories, emotions, dreams – it’s all there. My first act was to start replacing my 80’s collection and over the last few years I have pulled together a good collection of my favorites from that time. It is wonderful to hear those songs again and memories (and tears) come spilling out when I hear some of them for the first time in 20 or more years.

After I collected my songs I wanted to get them off my computer and in a format I could take with me so I had the kids show me how to burn cd’s. Well, that’s easy! Now I not only know how to burn cd’s but also to sync the music to my mp3 player. It’s not quite like having singles stacked on a spindle on a record player, but it works. My new “albums” have names like “Mom’s Music” and “80’s Summer Mix” and it is so much fun singing along in the car to all my singles again.

Where is all this leading to you might ask? Well, a few months ago I lost someone special to me and it has been really hard to deal with. So, what did I do? I put all my mp3’s on my player one day and that night I put on the headset and listened to my music – just like I used to do all those eons ago when I was younger. It has been therapeutic for me to do this and I can think, cry, and sometimes just listen to the music and words without thinking about anything at all.

So now it seems it has all come full circle and I am good with that. It is fitting and right to do that again.

If you’re wondering, I’m mostly done collecting my 80’s songs and I’m ready to move on to the next decade – the 70’s. Disco will live again – bwahahahaha!

2 comments
Comments

On February 7, 2011 at 7:59 PM, Joyce said:

What a great post! Your cycle of music.... :) I put on music when I have to do the bookkeeping but I use Pandora online. I'm not as hip as you are and don't have an MP3 player.

On February 10, 2011 at 5:29 PM, java_queen said:

Heh - I'm not THAT hip :-). Glad you liked the post. I have to say listening to music does make otherwise mundane jobs fun.

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» Music Monday » Oh Crap! – Musings of an Unperfect Mommy

Music Monday

February 7, 2011

Comments

On February 7, 2011 at 7:59 PM, Joyce said:

On February 10, 2011 at 5:29 PM, java_queen said:

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