Soundtrack for Your Life

In their hit song Stand Up, the Christian rock group Superchik writes:

Stand up write the soundtrack for your life
It doesn't happen to you,you happen to life
Stand up, do something with your life
It doesn't happen to you, you happen to life

In the October Credo Journal from our Sunday School Class we were given the task of creating a playlist of songs that describe your life. As soon as I read this I though of this song. The whole point of this song is that we shouldn't be afraid to take chances, we should stand up and live our lives. So what songs would you pick if you were to describe yourself in music? What song would other pick for you?

As for myself, what songs would I pick?

Music Box Dancer

From elementary school, the one song that stands out, and when I listen to it now is still amazing is Music Box Dancer. My Kindergarten teacher Ms. Kelly was also our music and Band teacher at the time. During music time she would often play this song. She sat at the old beat up piano our school had with her head down and her eyes closed, a slight smile on her face as she played. At the time I didn't think much of it, I later learned that she had played concert piano with the Radio City Philharmonic before moving home to Michigan to take care of her mother after her fathers death. For her that simple yet extremely elegant song reminded her of happier days. That was the last year she taught, her mother passed away and Ms. Kelly left teaching and moved to Chicago to play for an orchestra there, but she was not forgotten, at least not by me. When I hear Music Box Dancer today I got back to a simpler time when everything was right in the world and I close my eyes and smile remembering the teacher who taught me to love music.

The Boxer--Paul Simon

"In the clearing stands a boxer, and a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminder of every glove that laid him down or cut him
'Til he cried out in his anger and his shame
I am leaving, I am leaving, but the fighter still remains "

In middle and high school I was the Boxer, not simply because I got into more than my fair share of fights, but because at every turn I was cut down. I had my high school guidance counselor tell me in 10th grade not to worry, the world would always need ditch diggers. I took that as a challenge and graduated with honors, but many were the times when I cried out enough and wanted to quit. The people I went to school with either saw me as the daring rebel or the misfit loser. Unfortunately for me, more of the people in my school chose to see the misfit. There were only a small handful who knew the real me.

Runnin' Down a Dream--Tom Petty

I left home and joined the Army when I was 19. I had reached a point in life where I had no idea what I wanted but I knew it wasn't going to be found where I was, so I went looking. In all the years I was away, Ft Knox KY, Edgewood MD, Camp Hovey Korea, Aberdeen MD, and finally Ft Hood TX, I never found that thing I was searching for in life. I met a number of amazing people along the way, from the youngest Drill Instructor ever in the US Army, to a Staff Sargent who served in Germany with my second cousin and remembers seeing pictures of me from when I was little. I made friends all over the world and saw amazing things, but the dream escaped me. I realize now, in looking back, we were all running, some of were running towards something and other were running away. Most of us never found what we were searching for or escaped the things that were chasing us.

I am a Rock--Paul Simon

I am a Rock describes me when I came home from the Army better than anything else, I didn't need the world, I was fine on my own. It took a long time for me to begin to open up and let people back into my life, I had been hurt and it wasn't a pain I was eager to feel again. So I locked my self in and shut out those around me. When something threatened to break though my walls I would strike out in violent anger. Then things changed.

All Star--Smash Mouth

After the Army I went on to Graduate from LSSU with a BS in History and a Teaching Certification. When I graduated I mailed a copy of my transcripts back to that guidance counselor along with an invitation to my graduation. I had gone farther and seen and done more that anyone else from my high school class. I was a world traveler with a college education. So much for digging ditches.

Wonderful Tonight--Eric Clapton

I met Tymberlee while at LSSU, and my life changed, here was someone I could open up to, someone who almost always looks on the good side of things. She didn't care about my past, she was only interested in the present. We went out for a few years and I finally asked her to marry me, after I finished school of course.

Wonderful World--Louis Armstrong

A couple years after getting married Mattie was born and life changed again. The old me started to resurface, but they loved me anyways. I realize now that it is indeed a "Wonderful World."

But is that how it really ends? If this were a movie of my life, as the credit rolled over a series of snapshot from my past you would be hearing Jimmy Buffet's "A Pirate Looks at 40". I lived a crazy and wild life before settling down and getting married. People often ask if I regret my past. I always answer no. I have lived and amazing life, I have seen and done more than 90% of the people I know. As Amber Deckers, author of Ella Mental and the Good Sense Guide said, "Never regret something that once made you smile." So what do I have to regret?