What I Do Now:
Music
In my family each of us has our own need for music. My husband has always needed music. To sleep, relax, work, think, be. When we met he started a cable show to feature independent bands. (Cable was new then and yes, then we grew up and got real jobs.) He still needs to know about music and to talk about it with other people who know what he knows and loves what he loves. And he stays personally involved.
Music often pushes out my thoughts. So come weekends I'm grabbing the I-Tunes remote glancing over my shoulder to ensure my husband has indeed dozed off in a chair. Down goes the volume. Click. Click. Yet as often as my schedule allows, I must move to music in dance classes with other adults who, like me, must empty their minds in order to create the rest of their day anew.
My daughter pointed at the door during her first baby-in-my-lap-tambourine-in-my-hand music class. She wanted out. Not much has changed since. I've never caught her humming a tune. Camp songs begone! But lately, to ease her homework tensions, she plays bits of Huarache tunes out of her laptop while searching for that elusive lowest common denominator and her head sways as if poolside.
My son. Eden. Food allergies were the first question mark in a life to be filled with so much more. Why would we want our child to be about his health? His guitar teacher soon became an expected presence; his instrument became something he controlled. By seven, Eden developed taste, a shuffle on his I-Pod and an enthusiastic shower vocal. Then he requested a change in venue. No more Suzuki melodies. Instead "regular" songs, same teacher, new songbook and Pop Goes The Weasel.
There is a musician who composes music about food allergies, a terrific idea for some. But our goal was to offer one more escape from those thoughts. So when I got word of this new song called WAVY LANE by The Rattles I decided to play it for Eden before recommending it to my readers. It passed muster with two grinning thumbs up.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because it's happy. The sound is happy."
And that right there is the point.