Have you ever noticed how as human beings we can connect certain memories or ideas with a certain song? I was listening to Pandora Radio today and a song by Aimee Mann came onto the radio. Immediately when I heard the song I was flooded with so many memories of working at Weisman Design Group in Seattle. Aimee Mann was a personal favorite of Jennifer Martinez, one of my co-workers. Our office actually had a sound system and we were allowed to put on what we wanted. Jen loved to put on Aimee Mann A LOT!
I can suddenly see the unique office and all of its quirky inhabitants. I was always asked to go on Starbuck coffee runs, even though of course I never drank coffee. I would usually end up getting myself some “organic” juice which tasted horrible, but come on, the boss was paying. I was once asked to go on a beer run on a Friday afternoon. Now that was weird! Here I am in some little grocery store with bottles of expensive beer having to show my ID.
I don’t think I will ever see an office like that again. One of the partners brought his dog everyday (a rescued greyhound) who would hang around the office. She was quite sweet. She actually had to have her leg amputated due to an accident and you would hear Cleo hopping down the stairs. Shoes were often optional. There was a dishwasher in our little break area and a cupboard full of dishes. I always wondered who would do the dishes. One of the partners would send me work to do on a little string that was rigged from the upper floor.
My cork board by my desk was covered in pictures including ones of Wes. We were dating and I loved the pictures we had taken at the Japanese Garden. We ended up eloping while I was living in Seattle. I even came into the office the day I got married wearing my wedding dress so I could pick up my paycheck. My coworkers decided to attack my car with lipstick phrases.
It is amazing to me that our brain can take a song and attach so many memories and emotions to it. Maybe that is why I love music so much. You can feel it. If it is a really good song it can evoke feelings that are almost indescribable. I love music with beautiful harmonies and movements. I seem to gravitate a lot to minor chords. I am not sure why. Even the songs that I have written are usually just packed with Minor Chords. The only way I have ever been able to write a song though is on the spot. It just comes to me, usually at times when I am emotionally charged.
I came up “Candy Hill” when my family was really going through some upheavals and life just seemed upside down. I was driving in my 1980 Datson Car. I think I had just finished rehearsal for Fiddler on the Roof at High School and I just began singing in the car after I dropped one of my friends off.
I created “Wes’ song” when we were dating. We where hanging out in my apartment and I was just so overcome with my love for him. I rarely got to see him with it being a long distance relationship. I made the song up right there while I was looking at him. You know that is probably the last song I have made, well except of my really silly songs that I make once in a while.
I really need to try to “create” once in a while. Sometimes I get into my routines and I forget that humans have been given the ability to create beautiful things. We can create something all our own. Something that no one has ever heard or seen before.
Perhaps we all need awakenings in our lives once in awhile. Something to jolt our souls and remind us how uniquely wonderful each one of is. We don’t need the world to tell us who we are. We need to find it out for ourselves without fear or regret.
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