Be Still a Minute...: Everyday Magic...Day One, Music Magic

October has arrived which means it's time to begin the challenge of blogging for 31 days straight! Since I decided to do this thing, several weeks ago, I've been wracking my brain non-stop trying to settle my mind on a single topic to write about for a whole 31 days, until the point of complete mental exhaustion. I've always struggled with decisions when given too many choices. That five page menu at the Mexican restaurant always does me in because too.many.choices!

I've bounced around what seems like about five thousand different ideas but the one that keeps coming back to me is the very first one I had (go figure). So for the next 31 days I will give it my very best shot to step up and take notice of those beautiful little things and moments that we so often overlook and take for granted as we trudge through the seemingly ordinary, hurried business of everyday living.

This is day one. (Scroll to bottom of this post for links to all the posts in this series or simply click here or on the button above)

One of my most favorite things ever is driving in my car alone on one of the many country roads I travel on a daily basis with the windows down, singing (loudly and off key) along with the radio, turned up as loud as I can stand it, which is usually just about loud enough to wake the dead. Some of the best money I spend each month is on my subscription to XM radio because not only is there always a good song on at least one channel, I've gotten back in touch with so many songs I had long since forgotten.

I am all over the dial since my taste is music is and always has been extremely diversified but it seems that I mostly find myself landing on the 70s and 80s channels since so many of those songs take me back to my childhood and adolescence. I think most all of us agree that the music from those times in our lives evokes something special within us that not much else can touch. Bittersweet nostalgia, I suppose.

A couple of days ago I was driving along listening to channel 7 when this song came on that was vaguely familiar to me, that I was certain I'd heard a lot while growing up but had somehow become lost and forgotten to me over the years and I had most definitely never paid any attention to the lyrics. But being a young 'un, I suppose I wouldn't have. This time, however, it had my full-on attention so I woke the dead with it.

I'm not sure I can do the feeling justice with words but hopefully you've been there and so you'll understand. It was as if Mr. Jackson Browne himself had stepped right out of my radio and into my heart and soul because I so GOT it. FELT it. All of it. Every.single.word. As soon as I got home I immediately downloaded it on iTunes and sought it out on YouTube. I've now played it approximately 5,678,342 times and have yet to get my fill of it.

Now I've always been a music lover but music moments like this don't just fall in your lap every day. I will from here on out refer to this phenomenon as Music Magic.

via wikipedia

The lyrics I felt most deeply,

Everybody's going somewhere

Riding just as fast as they can ride

I guess they've got a lot to do

Before they can rest assured their lives...

Are justified (How very true this is today, more than ever!)

And,

You don't see what you've got to gain
But you don't like to lose
You watch yourself from the sidelines
Like your life is a game you don't mind playing...
To keep yourself amused
I don't mean to be cruel baby

But you're looking confused

And this? Simply beautiful,

Baby if you can hear me
Turn down your radio
There's just one thing
I want you to know
When you've been near me
I've felt the love stirring in my soul

Thank you, Mr. Browne, for Your Bright Baby Blues.