Play on.

Untitled by auspices

We were driving home yesterday from dinner when Don McLean's 'American Pie' played on the radio. A flashback of myself reading the lyrics from the songhits when I was a child crossed my mind.  The song is about eight minutes long and how I had memorized every word as a child. I learned about that little trivia from playing Thinkaton with my siblings and cousins. 

...I can still remember how that music used to make me smile...and I knew If I had my chance that I could make those people dance...and maybe they'd be happy for a while...

I was singing along with musical flair and by the time I got to the second stanza I found myself tearing up. He was talking to me about a story he'd like to share, asking me If I'd like to hear about it. I was silent. He thought I was not interested. I was still humming the song while remembering about how as a child I would sit with my siblings in the backseat while my dad drive us, with my mom in the passenger seat. 

I shared how I grew up with music around the house--music my parents loved, music I loved. music my sisters and brother loved, etc. My years were filled with music of different kinds. And I had such a particular inclination to music that I have come to discover stories behind songs, relate to them quite naturally, or find such beauty and poetry in them, that they could just easily get stuck in my head. 

While singing along to American Pie, I remember my young self singing along to it in the backseat. My dad behind the wheel would look at me and twin sister in astonishment as to how we knew the song--every word of it. It is the same reaction I get from him when a really old song plays on the radio and I just start singing along. He'd turn the stereo to another channel--a more contemporary one--and I'd still know the song. He would often joke and ask me about which song I do not know.

Now for ten years we've been on our own...but moss grows fat on the rolling stone...but that's not how it used to be...

I knew I teared up because I was missing my dad and those childhood days when he would drive by 711 and he'd buy me and my twin sister Slurpee before heading home. When we would play music in the car and just sing along. When life seemed simpler.

I smiled and said those were tears of joy. We talked about countless other songs and cassette tapes that would remind me of dad and home and family and years ago.

Driving home, myself behind the wheel this time, I thought about how time is truly fast. My dad is miles away, and most of my family are, but thank God for music, we can never feel alone.

Although every song will have to come to an end, and we will all grow up and discover new places, the truth of family and love will not fade----it's the kind of music that will perpetually play in your head and will constantly send you back home if you ever find yourself lost. ♫♪♫