Music for memories

Kids are finally in bed, hopefully to remain and eventually drift off to sleep. Sitting in the dark, save the glow of the computer screen and a few flickers of candlelight, a glass of Merlot, and Brandi Carlile radio on Pandora....  These are the moments I look forward to every evening. The only way this gets sweeter would be to add another glass of (better) wine and some great conversation.... and maybe a breath mint or fifteen.

So random.

Ever hear a song that takes you back to a moment in time? A place? A person?

Ever smell something that reminds you of someone - even when you're somewhere far, far away?

Ever close your eyes and just cherish a memory?

Ever look up at the night sky and wonder who else is looking at that very same star?

Ever wish you could just step out of your life for a few moments and rewind to another time just to make it last a little longer?

I love my quiet evenings (when they are, in fact, quiet). I love listening to some chill music and reminiscing. Remembering a weekend at a mountain cabin, making breakfast at 4:00 in the morning and playing cards until midnight because there was no television, radio or telephone.  Remembering the smell of the air after a fresh rain.  Remembering the stillness in the early morning after a good snow.  Remembering the smell of my dad, the warmth and refuge of his hugs and the tickle of his beard on my face.  Remembering a sunset. Remembering a sunrise. Remembering a conversation that saw both. Remembering the yearning for another just like it.  Remembering a look, a smile. Remembering a comfortable silence. Remembering the excitement of a first embrace. Remembering the peacefulness of a familiar one.

Little nuggets of a life's journey.

So many wonderful snapshots that I hold close to my heart. Some are shared. Some are for me alone. Some are humorous. Some are painful. Some are both.

But they all are weaved into the tapestry of my mind and only a song, a smell, a memory-reach away.

I'm grateful for memories and for the experiences that create them.

A groove and a goal

Purchased a new Bose system over the weekend. After several months of a music-less home, we finally realized what we were missing. 


Then we tapped into Pandora on the iTouch, and voila... An underground jazz club right in our living room. Brings us back to our Sweetbrier days, with Nate the bartender, our little corner of the club on a Thursday evening, and the stylings of Jim Beatty. Those were some sah-weet memories. 


I love to listen to music. I far prefer music as a backdrop to my life than television. (We haven't had TV since we moved to CO - purposefully. We do have Netflix, so once in a while we're watching a movie or documentary, but for the most part, the TV just sits in its quiet corner and hardly says a peep.)  But our home has been far too silent - save the bedtime tantrums of our 3 year old. 


Ahhhhh, 'tis good. I loves me some good jazz, a cool breeze sifting in through an open window, little speckles of light from a few flickering candles, my cocktail of choice, and either a good book, the sound of my fingers pecking the keyboard, or just the hush of a fall evening after the kidlets have finally slipped off into a slumber.


It has been many, many months since there has even been a semblance of stability. I'm happy (ecstatic, really) to report that we've found our groove. 


The fact that I now have any mood I desire literally at my fingertips is bonus. 


Now if only my living room just happened to be 10 miles from town in the middle of 75 quiet acres, free from traffic noise and city lights, that would be perfection.


Goals, people. Gotta have a goal.