Gratitude Day 4

Today I'm grateful for music that takes me back.

(By the way, I am grateful on Saturday's and Sunday's, but I don't have the internet, so they don't count here =)

The other day someone on MY 99.5 called in and said she just listened to "Killing Me Softly" by the Fugees, and that it had taken her back. I listened quietly to the song-ok I belted it with the song-but I started thinking about songs that "take me back".

Here are just a few. Hope you enjoy.

There are some I can't remember, but that still hold me. Some that remind me of the good old days in the kitchen at Waterford. Some that take me back to my senior year in high school, the time I was most involved though seldom in class. The first time I ever got into "school spirit."

Some music that remind me of long drives cross country (to California, real cross country) with good friends and lots of laughter. Some songs that make me sad, and remind me of lost friends.

Today I'm grateful especially for the Titantic song, because it reminds me of my friend Kayla, and the week we spent in the snowy fields of Idaho visiting her dad. Needless to say, there was nothing to do but eat candy and play checkers (remember that Kayla?) So, we saw Titantic like five times, in an old movie theatre, and sat on the balcony every time. We sang that song at the top of our lungs a million times. This song makes me smile even though it's sort of depressing, just because it reminds me of Kayla.

I'm also grateful for the Hymns, which my family is probably sick of, considering they're the only thing I play on the piano anymore. Rather, try to play. I have a million and a half favorite hymns. A few weeks ago, I was obsessed with Hymns of goodbye, of departing, of happy sorrow for lost ones. And ever sense I talked about prayers, I've been singing "Count your many blessings", more than the people around me would care to hear. But my all time favorite song, the one that gives me goosebumps and makes my heiney tingle, is "Praise to the Man". This song is at the end of the Joseph Smith Movie down at the JSMB, and I ball so hard when it's played on the bagpipes that I can't see the movie screen anymore and Brett looks around uncomfortably to make sure no ones staring. Mostly everyone else is crying too, so it's all good.

I'm grateful for my husbands music, which is always beautiful and peaceful and insightful. He writes songs about life and love and decisions and hardships and everything. He's amazing, and I know I'm not the only one who thinks this, so...I'm not just being biased! Ok, maybe a little bit. But he really does rock the house.

I'm grateful for "Three Little Monkeys Swingin' in a Tree" and other such classics, because my babies and I sing them together and we laugh a lot. Especially when that alligator "SMACKS!" that monkey right outta that tree!

So I'm grateful for music today. I'm grateful how powerful it is, how it can change any mood in just a moment, especially when sung by exuberant and happy children. I'm grateful for the feelings of nostalgia it creates, for the memories that flood my mind when hearing a song from long ago. Music is a powerful influence, and I'm supremely grateful for it in my life!