The soundtracks of our lives
I pulled into the parking lot this morning and stepped out of my truck. I was astounded by how unbelievably gorgeous the weather was. Now that we have to park a couple blocks from the building in a dirt lot, days like today are a blessing and make for an enjoyable walk down the road to get into the office. This morning, the short walk to the office wasn't going to be enough, and I decided to take a stroll down along the lagoon. My recent introduction to the trail that runs along this flowing river of water has yielded many mid day strolls out of the office. Often there are crabs crawling along the rocks, fish jumping out of the water, and way more than expected sightings of octopus - scrambling across the rocks in the shallows.
After a brief stroll, and finishing up a phone call, I headed back along the tracks, taking the back way into the work parking lot. An accidental extra click of my iphone headphones caused music to start playing. Because the last thing I listened to was the 500 days of Summer soundtrack, it's the same thing that started playing. It was a pleasant surprise when the song "Us" came on, the opening song for the movie. I hadn't been familiar with Regina Spektor until I saw the movie, but have since decided that I'm in love with her voice.
As I walked along the old asphalt road that runs along the tracks, separated by a stretch of bushes with the strangest prickly balls, I couldn't help but feel removed from my body for a moment. The weather was beautiful - warm air and a mild cool breeze. The walk refreshing - a comfortable pace, the consistent sound of dirt crunching beneath my sandals strangely pleasant. I felt a subtle grin creep across my face. As I walked along, the music piped through my headphones felt like the soundtrack of my life. I felt so.....content.
Even now, I'm not sure why I felt so good in that moment. My life has been a twisting path of climbs and descents over the last month or so - and maybe my comfort was derived from a sense that I am moving in the right direction, even if I am not yet aware of it on a conscious level. God knows I wonder more than ever, where the hell my life is headed.
As I got to the office, I thought a lot about why I've always had a desire to express myself artistically, and I think moments like I experienced are a large part of that desire. As I type this, I realize that, I think this may be the classic question of whether art mimics life or life mimics art. At that moment, I felt as if I should have been recording myself with a camera. I felt that, with the right sequence of moving images, and an appropriate song, I could have shared my exact feeling in that moment with an audience. Then again, did i feel that moment as a result of being pre-conditioned by the art of another at some point?
After a brief stroll, and finishing up a phone call, I headed back along the tracks, taking the back way into the work parking lot. An accidental extra click of my iphone headphones caused music to start playing. Because the last thing I listened to was the 500 days of Summer soundtrack, it's the same thing that started playing. It was a pleasant surprise when the song "Us" came on, the opening song for the movie. I hadn't been familiar with Regina Spektor until I saw the movie, but have since decided that I'm in love with her voice.
As I walked along the old asphalt road that runs along the tracks, separated by a stretch of bushes with the strangest prickly balls, I couldn't help but feel removed from my body for a moment. The weather was beautiful - warm air and a mild cool breeze. The walk refreshing - a comfortable pace, the consistent sound of dirt crunching beneath my sandals strangely pleasant. I felt a subtle grin creep across my face. As I walked along, the music piped through my headphones felt like the soundtrack of my life. I felt so.....content.
Even now, I'm not sure why I felt so good in that moment. My life has been a twisting path of climbs and descents over the last month or so - and maybe my comfort was derived from a sense that I am moving in the right direction, even if I am not yet aware of it on a conscious level. God knows I wonder more than ever, where the hell my life is headed.
As I got to the office, I thought a lot about why I've always had a desire to express myself artistically, and I think moments like I experienced are a large part of that desire. As I type this, I realize that, I think this may be the classic question of whether art mimics life or life mimics art. At that moment, I felt as if I should have been recording myself with a camera. I felt that, with the right sequence of moving images, and an appropriate song, I could have shared my exact feeling in that moment with an audience. Then again, did i feel that moment as a result of being pre-conditioned by the art of another at some point?