A Gift

“Music” by Henri Matisse (1907)

Music has always spoken to me, as it does so many. As a listener, we are afforded the creative freedom to bend lyrics - almost molding them around our personal situations as they seem to mostly fit. When we relate to a song it makes us smile and usually feels good. I'm good at molding. I like relating. I want that feeling! Sometimes our strongest desires make us hastily connect to certain lyrics that might not completely encompass our story. Yet, it still seems to work – it still feels good.

For the first time I have lyrics in front of me that need not be molded. They don’t call for wishful thinking to fit a certain situation – they don’t because they were written for me…


"Invisible Kisses"

Will you still be here when I return?
Where will you have gone in the meantime?
Your story could never disappoint me

Cloaked by the distance of space and time
Doesn't make them any less real
It makes me smile to think of the many kisses
I place on your forehead morning and night

I have felt you before and I am stronger for it
You are in my story, and I am in yours
Better told after our encounter

Cloaked by the distance of space and time
Doesn't make them any less real
It makes me smile to think of the many kisses
I place on your forehead morning and night

~

Smiling he says, thank you.

Music

According to our friends over at Wiki: Music is an art form in which the medium is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. The word derives from Greek μουσική (mousike), "(art) of the Muses".

To me, music rates up there with food and water, maybe even air. I try to surround myself with music as often as I can and sleep with my stereo on every night. It started out as an escape from my world. Songs would allow me to enter their world - the worlds created by my song selection. The worlds that were better than mine, worse than mine, and different from mine; worlds that were full of the emotions I wanted and needed. I still think music fulfills some of these deepest needs and ultimately makes me feel better; a sort of self-prescribed dosage of Paxil if you will.

Music has the ability to make me laugh, to make me cry, to wake me up, to put me to sleep, to make me happy and make me sad, to move me and stop me in my tracks, it has been there when no one else was and is present when I’m with all my friends, it has taken my breath and helped me breathe, it has filled me with love and been there when I lost love. Music has never failed me and so I shall continue to listen.

I love all types of music, but most often find myself listening to alternative rock, country, 80’s, and folk. Anything acoustic gets me – it just seems so real.

Creating a top 10 list proved to be more challenging than I expected. So many artists are incredible in their own way, but the following are ones I have either seen in concert or never tire of listening to:

Cartel
Counting Crows
The Cure
Damien Rice
Death Cab for Cutie
Indigo Girls
Lifehouse
Midnight Oil
Train
Vertical Horizon

She Gave Me Away

An amazing friend of mine recently introduced me to Mark Schultz. He is a christian songwriter and singer who was adopted. He wrote a song for his birth mother that I really enjoyed. The following you tube videos are of him describing the story behind the song (remember, I love getting the story) and the actual song. I'll also post the lyrics so you can sing along!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z61zdZJ9uZc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhqJYOYcnAU&NR=1


Mark Schultz Lyrics - Everything To Me Lyrics

I must have felt your tears
When they took me from your arms
I’m sure I must have heard you say goodbye
Lonely and afraid had you made a big mistake
Could an ocean even hold the tears you cried

But you had dreams for me
You wanted the best for me
And you made the only choice you could that night

(Chorus)
You gave life to me
A brand new world to see
Like playing baseball in the yard with dad at night
Mom reading Goodnight Moon
And praying in my room
So if you worry if your choice was right
You gave me up but you gave everything to me

And if I saw you on the street
Would you know that it was me
And would your eyes be blue or green like mine
Would we share a warm embrace
Would you know me in your heart
Or would you smile and let me walk on by
Knowing you had dreams for me
You wanted the best for me
And I hope that you’d be proud of who I am

(Chorus)
You gave life to me
A chance to find my dreams
And a chance to fall in love
You should have seen her shining face
On our wedding day
Oh is this the dream you had in mind
When you gave me up
You gave everything to me

And when I see you there
Watching from heaven’s gates
Into your arms
I’m gonna run
And when you look in my eyes
You can see my whole life
See who I was
And who I’ve become

The - Guitar - Song

Hey Kitten, whatcha doin'?
Wanna play the guitar?
You say, what's that sound
Coming out of the hole in the wood?
You say, what's that sound
Coming out of the hole in the wood?
You say, what's that sound
Coming out of the hole in the wood?
It's the guitar

"The Guitar Song" - The Dead Milkmen





My ability to play music stops at iTunes. I've always wanted to play a musical instrument. I remember being disappointed back in second grade when we were all given a "recorder" and had to learn to play - I remember thinking that we were each going to be given a "tape recorder" and somehow were going to be taught the proper way to play such a device - don't forget this was the 80's and a serious skill was to be able to synchronize the play button with the record&play button on dual tape decks. Granted, I never pursued an illustrious career as a recorder player, but have always wanted to play something.



I created a sort of goals list, not quite the bucket list, but things I'd like to do or learn. I was recently able to scratch off my #1 (finding my birth mother) so now it is on to #2 - learn to play the violin. So I changed my mind since I wrote the list - besides I've been told learning to play the guitar is a great foundation for learning to play the violin. With that said, I picked up an Ibanez acoustic guitar last night and can't wait until I know what I'm doing - so feel free to provide me any comments regarding learning to play.



My stimulus check went to good use - actually, I think I've spent it about 4 times!