M is for music

I was never a huge music girl. Sure, I liked it, but I was never one to have an all-time favorite band, to go to concerts, to play music all the time. I am one of those people who must work and study in silence--unlike Toben who loves to have background noise when he works.

But the older I get, the more I love music. I have such an appreciation for how music can alter my mood, change my focus, draw me in to its message. And so I'm very careful about what I listen to. Bits of a song often get stuck in my head and I want it to be something worth having stuck in there!

Part of it is having kids around--there's a lot of stuff in music that they just don't need to hear. But part of it is just being aware of the power it has. And like anything powerful, I need to be aware of it and careful with it and use it wisely.

All that said about music, I don't sing particularly well. It's one talent I really envy in others. I'd love to open my mouth and belt out something amazing. That's why I love walking with my ipod, I guess. I can turn it up, sing out loud, and not hear myself. The neighbors, as I've said before, probably think I'm a little nuts. But I really do take it down a notch when I see someone coming down the path. It's those times when someone sneaks up behind me that are the problem...

***

Let's see...M is also for:

M*A*S*H (my favorite TV show)
marshmallows (necessary for a life with Girl Scouts who love to camp)
manna (it's new every day--but we must gather it--I love that!)
mush (how I feel about my kids)
manic-depressive (the old name for being bipolar)
marmalade (something I could never stand to eat!)
mud (it really is fun to play in when you don't stop to think about the laundry it creates)
marmot (saw my first ones in the Grand Tetons as a kid)
Minnesota (a place I've never been)
Maine (a place I'd love to visit again--especially this time of year)
Montgomery, Lucy Maud (the woman who wrote the Anne of Green Gables books)
Maude (my grandmother's name)
Myrtle (my other grandmother's name)
Mississippi (always fun to spell!)
Mexican food (enchildas on the menu for tomorrow night)
Mama (what my kids call me most often)
Mother (what Audrey called me her entire kindergarten year)
midnight (a time I hardly ever see)
Marla (my friend who sees it all the time)
Montauk (a great place for a lobster boil in the Hamptons)
Mom (who I took to the foot doctor today after her surgery last week)
medicine (something I don't really like but am grateful for anyway)
milk (something I can't digest without lactaid pills)
more? (I think not, it's time for bed...)

Comments

[stacy]

I love the visual of you singing on your walks. I have a terrible singing voice, and absolutely refrain from any public singing what-so-ever. Trust me...it's best that way. Which is why I probably picture you singing worse than you actually do, and get the giggles thinking of you walking and singin'.

[Marla Taviano]

Okay, so it's not 11:00 here yet, but this post is making me laugh like it's after midnight! My faves:

the shout-out to me, of course
gabe's grandma's name was marilyn and we always called her myrtle to drive her nuts
audrey calling you mother
marmot--saw my first one in 6th grade in yellowstone
the manna thing--so true

I'm going to bed early tonight...

[Holly Smith]

We are praying to see marmots in RMNP...are they there?

I love music and you can sing aloud with me anytime...for that makes it all the sweeter...just belting it out without a care, but enjoying it anyways!

And reading Minnesota...I have never been there, but I believe that I read it with a Minnesotan accent.
Min-a sooooo-ta :)