Have you ever turned the radio on and heard a song for the first time and thought “This song was written for me”? Every word of the song hitting a chord in your soul that left you smiling or crying or just a little heartbroken. And then you would play the song over and over just to feel that emotion again and again. I am envious of those special individuals who can write so well that their emotion becomes your emotion. The experiences they went through to inspire the words somehow encapsulating your own experience as well.
And lets not even get started on the object relations we have with songs….. the song you cried to when your heart was broken the first time. The song that was popular at your high school prom. The song playing the night the boy your 16 year old self had a crush on, walked in the door….. “Little Red Corvette”. 🙂 Or the song playing on Bourbon Street during your first Mardi Gras experience… Salt N Pepa’s “Push It”….. Hearing “We are the Champions” play on the loud speaker after you won your first Jr. High basketball game. That feeling of great accomplishment the song inspired even though your season consisted of 10 losses and ONE win…… The song that played at your son’s funeral that would always hold a double meaning for the two of you – “I’m Coming Home”.
Imagine Dragons played in Nashville Wednesday night. It was a concert Christian and I were supposed to be at together. It was a band we had talked about the last time we spoke. So fitting that our last conversation was of music and attending concerts. So I waited 16 months to attend the last planned date with my son….. a night that was bittersweet. So many songs written that seemed to be just for us. Songs of teenage defiance, parental conflict, stubbornness and the fight to find the person you were meant to be…. and realizing sometimes you just have to remember to enjoy the ride…. and I can’t think of another person that I would have wanted to take that roller coaster ride with. And only one of three people “I’d Bet My Life On.”