Whatchu Listening To?

Every dawn is new. Every smile is the first. And every loud noise is the neighbor.

I love dreaming. ...And I love waking up. Every today is the only one. I don't know if this is the case with you, but each morning I rise with a song in my head. Not in the rear of my head, adding faint background music to my adjusting retinas, but unapologetically committing itself to being today's most prominent theme song.


I imagine I spend a fortune acquiring new tracks in the midnight hours from an exclusive itunes store accessible only to the lovers, dreamers, and me. As soon as I rub the morning blindness from my eyes, some internal jukebox kicks in, and I'm warming up to a tune coming through my wireless, weightless, totally stylish invisible headphones – for men.


I throw on some clothes, thank the morning california sun for looking as good as it does, drink my weight in H2O, lead my class of one in some improvised dancefloor aerobics - all the while, the song of the day is jammin' away. On repeat. All day. This aural gift could quickly turn nightmarish should the playlist suddenly shift to that old Christmastime With Kenny G & Creed collaboration, but lucky for me, my soul seems to carry only the greatest songs in its collection.


The best part is I don't have to think about the song or how to apply it to what's happening right now, it does all that on its own. Days have a heightened feeling of magic and meaning, as the dots are connected for me. Ben Folds sings "I am the luckiest" in tune with my savoring a delicious breakfast, a smile from a girl passing by on her bike, an awesome night sky, holding the guitar that loves to go wherever I go... Wow, I really AM the luckiest!


Today's song was "When In Rome" by Nickel Creek, wryly reminding the importance of staying true to you, to not give in just for the sake of fitting in. My computer screen even offered me the question earlier, "Is This True To You?" I sometimes worry that I stray or wander too far and wide in search of the sound of my own song, but today reminded me there is nothing to wonder about, that there are no set dimensions for the box I choose or choose not to pigeonhole myself within. Perhaps my life fort prefers to be boxless altogether.


It's a fun game to be on a bus, on the street, in a line of people at the post office, picking a person and guessing the song they're tuning into today. If you're getting too good at it with the crowds where you are, come to Los Angeles and you'll have a blast. I swear there are people dialing into inner radio stations that I couldn't even begin to comprehend, where the visible world re-emerges as something almost kaleidoscopic.
I'll have what she's hearing!

To sleep, I drift.
Grateful for every time I get to wake up with a song.


zZzzryan