Friday, March 27, 2009

music for the season

This is one of those dreaded projects. Unless you're one of those that have mastered "delayed gratification." Unfortunately, that's not me.

We have a mountain of cd's in our home. In my single years, I loved to spend hours at Borders, or more offbeat music shops, listening to albums, looking for that new favorite artist to become part of the soundtrack of that life stage. Isn't it funny, how you just have to hear a song, and you remember the crush, the adventure, the joy, the drive, the weather...? Bon Jovi, Sarah McLachlan, Keb' Mo, Train, Dave Matthews- they each take me back to different summers, different seasons.

All those seasons are getting rather dusty. And they're a mess. The CD cover may or may not indicate what cd is actually enclosed. Oh, the fun when it says VeggieTales, but then Beastie Boys comes blasting through the car speakers. Sorry kids.

We've tried. I've spend entire evenings sorting, alphabetizing, arranging. I made Joel join me in the dreaded project, imploring him to please not just stack them all on top of the CD rack when you're done, but put them back in their rightful place, and then we wouldn't have to do this again. He suggested we go digital and ditch the cd's all together.

I refused. Too sterile. I like album art and liner notes. I like to hold my music, see my music.

And then, the mess again. My 3 year old, pulling cd's out of the player, "Mama, do you know where the Glenn and Marketta song is?" My 15 month old, scrambling to pull album after album off the shelf, just for the glorious sound they make crashing to the wood floor. An me, with the quiet (there's no need to tell my husband) realization that it's me setting a pile from the car on top of the CD rack because, "I will sort through them later, you know, when I have time."

Well now it's time. Not for another sorting session, but the last sorting session. We're going digital. Because really, when is the last time I read liner notes? When in the last year have I stepped foot into a music store to browse? I know, I'm kind of a late adopter on this one. What took me so long? A stubborn streak. And the absolute mundane torture of downloading every single cd on our laptop. We started this morning, and we're about halfway through. But I finally think it's worth it.

Because really, I miss the music. I do want the music back in my daily life, my kitchen, my backyard, my room. These are some great days, and they deserve their own soundtracks too.